-- By Christina Rossetti --
While Rossetti's famous poem is often known by the first line, In the Bleak Midwinter was originally published under the title A Christmas Carol. The poem was first published in Scribner's Monthly in 1872 before Rossetti republished it in the 1875 collection Goblin Market, The Prince's Progress and Other Poems. Gustav Holst was the first to write music for In the Bleak Midwinter in 1906, however he is not the only composer to have arranged the song. Famous composer Harold Darke also arranged the piece while still studying at the Royal College of Music in South Kensington, London. The piece has been featured in modern television shows like Peaky Blinders, and most notably the series premier of The Crown.
Contemporaneously, Rossetti was diagnosed with Graves' disease in 1872 and suffered a major flare up that almost took her life around the time of her diagnosis. Christina's sister, Maria Francesca Rossetti an essayist and nun, would also pass away just one year after in 1876. Christina had previously dedicated the title poem Goblin Market to her sister.
