Snow on Snow: Analyzing the Winter Poem In the Bleak Midwinter

About This Resource

A complete Grade 10 ESL poetry pack on Christina Rossetti's winter poem In the Bleak Midwinter (1872): bleak winter imagery, similes (hard as iron), personification (frosty wind made moan), repetition (snow on snow), rhyme and the change of mood in the final stanza about giving. Students analyze language with quotations, discuss the theme and write their own winter stanza. Includes slides, a lesson plan, worksheet, quiz, homework, flashcards, a rubric and answer keys.

Overview

Students analyze a short, famous winter poem by the Victorian poet Christina Rossetti, later set to music and sung as a Christmas carol. In the first stanza, Rossetti builds a cold, empty winter world with powerful images: the wind makes a sad sound, the earth is as hard as iron and snow falls again and again. In the final stanza, the speaker asks what gift she can give, even though she is poor, and decides to give her heart. Students identify similes, personification, repetition and rhyme, explain their effect with quotations, trace the shift in mood from bleak to warm, discuss the theme of giving from the heart and write a winter stanza of their own.

Resource Details

Subject: ESL
Topic: Analyzing a Winter Poem: In the Bleak Midwinter
Category: Reading
File Type: PDF
File Size: 312.6 KB
Published: 11 Nov 2026
Downloads: 0

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Grade 10 ESL (ages 15–16), B1–B2 55 minutes Poetry analysis figurative language using quotations creative writing

Learning Objectives

Identify similes, personification, repetition and rhyme in a poem.
Explain the effect of poetic language on mood using quotations.
Discuss the poem's theme and write an original winter stanza.

How to Use This Resource

Start with the slides: show the word bleak and ask students what kind of winter it describes.
Read the two stanzas aloud twice, then do worksheet activities 1 and 2.
Students complete activities 3 to 6, then use the quiz and write their own stanza for homework.

Classroom Activity Ideas

Read aloud in two voices: half the class reads the cold first stanza slowly, the other half reads the warm last stanza softly.
Mood line: students place words from the poem on a line from cold to warm.
Gift brainstorm: students list gifts that cost nothing (time, help, a kind word) to connect with the final stanza.

Differentiation

Support: give a glossary (bleak, moan, shepherd, Wise Man) and an analysis frame. Challenge: students write about how the rhythm and short lines (Snow on snow) slow the reader down.

Assessment

Use the worksheet and quiz to check identification and analysis of poetic devices. Use the rubric to assess the homework stanza and commentary.

Teacher Tips

The poem comes from the Christian Christmas story; the shepherd, the lamb and the Wise Man refer to the nativity. Teach it as literature, explain the references briefly, and welcome students' own ideas about giving. Point out that "Him" in the last stanza refers to the baby Jesus.

What's Included

11-page printable PDF lesson pack: teacher lesson plan with timings, materials and differentiation
Key vocabulary list (8 words with meanings and examples)
Student worksheet (6 activities)
Quiz / assessment (3 parts)
Homework practice page
Printable flashcards: 8 A5 picture cards (separate PDF)
Assessment rubric (4 levels)
Lesson slides (editable PowerPoint)
Editable Word version of all student pages
Complete answer key (also as a separate PDF)

Additional Files

Lesson Slides (PPTX)
Editable Student Pages and Lesson Plan (DOCX)
A5 Flashcards (PDF)
Answer Key (PDF)

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