On the Morning of Christ's Nativity

This ode, written in 1629 and printed in 1645, is a nativity poem rather than a narrative of Jesus' childhood. The speaker marks the winter morning of the birth, then imagines the music of the spheres, the peace that falls on kings and armies, and the flight or silencing of the old pagan gods and oracles as the infant's power begins. Classical and Hebrew figures stand beside the manger. The poem is a ceremonial lyric in stanzas, moving from hush and snow to a catalogue of displaced deities. It treats the Incarnation as a cosmic change of rule, not as a private family scene at Bethlehem.

Quarter bound in red-brown buckram, Rackenmarmor Swedish marbled paper boards, red-brown buckram cover-label. Pale grey-brown endleaves. Transparent plastic dust-jacket, no slipcase.