Christina Rossetti’s “In the Bleak Mid-winter” in Pop Culture: The Legacies of Holst and Darke’s Tunes

It is broadcast most Christmas Eves on BBC Two’s Carols from King’s College. It’s been featured in episodes of The Crown, Peaky Blinders, and Doctor Who. It has been arranged by newer artists like Jacob Collier and Bombay Bicycle Club, and classics like James Taylor and Sarah McLachlan. No poem by Christina Rossetti has become so widely familiar as her Christmas carol, “In the bleak mid-winter.” Through its musical settings and arrangements, the poem has reached audiences all over the world.

This exhibit is adapted from a paper presented on the What, Like It's Hard? podcast on December 13, 2020.

Emily McConkey is a graduate student in English at the University of Ottawa and our resident expert on "A Christmas Carol" ("In the Bleak Midwinter") settings. She is a research assistant and has been making important contributions to the Christina Rossetti in Music project for many years.