Christina Rossetti: Poems Lesson Plan

How does the description of the setting in the beginning of "In the Bleak Mid-Winter" impact the telling of the story?

"In the Bleak Mid-Winter" begins by describing the difficult and wintry conditions on the night of the birth of Christ. This impacts the rest of the story by informing the audience that in addition to Christ deeming a manger-ful of hay sufficient, he also arrived under conditions difficult for any human to endure. The repeated use of the word "snow" also gives us a visceral sense of the volume of snow, and emphasizes the freezing weather. Students may note that while Christmas is in winter in Rossetti's England, it is highly unlikely that the location of...