Christmas Day

This poem is presumably set in the city of Bethlehem, as that is famously where Christ was born to a mortal mother on Earth. However, there is very little mention made of the physical location of the setting. Much more important to the poem seems to be its temporal setting. Milton draws readers' attention to several different aspects of the time. First, it is midwinter. The poem emphasizes the snow on the ground, with its white veil of purity. It also reminds us that the bulk of the poem is set in the early morning, just as stars are beginning to appear in the sky. The poem discusses a historical event that happened more than a thousand years before the poem was offered, but the setting actually deemphasizes this temporal distance, choosing instead to show the time of day and season and thus universalize the setting.

The Earth