One of my memories of Christmas growing up was attending the Christmas Eve service at my grandma’s church in Boone, Iowa. There are two songs that come to mind from those services: “Silent Night” and “What Child is This?” The reason I remember Silent Night is that this song was when we would light candles, either playing with the wax as it burned or trying to avoid it burning us! I think the reason that “What Child is This?” is the other song I recall is that it featured a “naughty” word – being used probably in this case to describe a donkey! – which would cause me to snicker as a child. Now that I am more mature (hopefully), I can sing it without giggling, and it is my hope that this exploration of the story behind the song and the content of the lyrics itself allows us to sing it more thoughtfully moving forward.

Story
Most of the Christmas songs that I have explored were either written by an anonymous author or by someone who was a pastor or musician. This song is different as we know it was written by a man who was the manager of an insurance company: William Chatterton Dix. Dix lived in England from 1837-1898. His father was a doctor but also a writer, as he wrote a biography of the poet Thomas Chatterton (which is why William’s middle name was Chatterton). While primarily a businessman in his life, William Dix would follow in the footsteps of his father and the namesake of his middle name and write poems and hymns. Such literary production, however, did not emerge out of easy or happy circumstances. Dix would have a major health crisis when he was 29, almost dying and battling depression as he was essentially bed-ridden for a season in the prime of his life. This period seems to have sparked both a spiritual awakening in his heart and a literary awakening in his pen, as many of his hymns come from this period. This includes what would become known as “What Child is This?” because this song is based on a poem he wrote in 1865 entitled “The Manger Throne.” This poem has six verses that discuss the majesty and power of the child born on Christmas. Six years later, words and themes from this poem would appear in the three verse song known by its opening words “What Child is This?” found in a British hymnal edited by Henry Ramsden Bramley and John Stainer called Christmas Carols New and Old. This influential hymnal also included “The First Noel” and “God Rest You Merry, Gentleman,” and led to “What Child is This?” becoming a classic Christmas carol. 

The tune known as “Greensleeves” that these words were paired with in this hymnal has its own unique history. This was an old English folk song that goes back to at least 1580, when it was registered by a man named Richard Jones under the title “A Newe Northen Dittye of ye Ladye Greene Sleves.” At times, it has been claimed that this tune was written by King Henry VIII for or about Anne Boleyn, but most would reject this possibility because the song reveals some influence of Italian music from a later date. Shakespeare’s play, The Merry Wives of Windsor, makes reference to this song, showing it was likely well-known at that time. It seems that it was paired with other Christmas and New Year songs over the years, which might be why it was paired with this particular Christmas song. That said, some have pointed out that such a connection has a certain irony, as the term “Greensleeves” might have been a reference to a promiscuous woman whose dalliances out in the field left her sleeves green. There is a possibility, though, that the term “Greensleeves” has such a reference but “Lady Greensleeves” might have been falsely accused of such promiscuity because of her wardrobe. If that is the case, then there might be something of an appropriate connection in light of the accusations made about the pregnant Virgin Mary. If nothing else, this background about the tune is a reminder of how many hymns were paired with tunes that would be considered “secular” rather than “sacred.” 

Song
The tune gives the song something of a mellow feel, which seems to match the words in that they are reflective upon the birth of Jesus; it ponders both who Jesus is and how we should respond.

The song opens with two questions: “What Child is this, who, laid to rest, On Mary’s lap is sleeping”  and “Whom angels greet with anthems sweet while shepherds watch are keeping?” The answer given is that “This, this is Christ, the King, Whom shepherds guard and angels sing: Haste, haste to bring Him laud, The Babe, the Son of Mary!” This response uses a couple of old-fashioned words. I’m not sure how often we say “haste” today as a command, but this stands as to do something quickly; while the song has a mellow feel, it also calls for a sense of urgency in our response to Christ. Another word that is a bit uncommon today is “laud,” which basically means “praise” and “honor.” 

The second verse also begins with a question: “Why lies He in such mean estate, Where ox and ass are feeding?” The question features a familiar word in “mean” that is not used in the way that we typically do today, as it references the idea of being shabby or insignificant. While not using the word “manger” to refer to Jesus’s placement at this moment, there is the idea that he resides where oxen and donkeys are eating. The first verse asks a second question before giving the answer, but this verse does not ask another question and instead offers an answer and a command with the words, “Good Christian, fear: for sinners here The silent Word is pleading.” The familiarity of these words might make us miss the oxymoron here in the phrase “the silent Word is pleading.” How does something silent plead? How can a word be silent? This poetic phrase is a reminder both that Jesus is more than a child but the Word of God and also that he came to plead the case for sinners in saving us from our sinners; thus, we should neither fear this mighty child nor be in fear of our sins because of him. 

Some arrangements of the song then return back to the second half of verse 1 (“This, this is Christ, the King, Whom shepherds guard and angels sing: Haste, haste to bring Him laud, The Babe, the Son of Mary!”), treating it as a chorus. However, the original song features a second part of this second verse that I think is important for us to sing: “Nails, spear shall pierce him through, The cross be borne for me, for you. Hail, hail the Word made flesh, The babe, the Son of Mary.” This section ends with the same words as verse 1 and the section sometimes used as a chorus in calling for a response of acclamation to the “babe, the Son of Mary,” but it tells us other things about this child. It uses the same word as earlier in the verse – Word – in describing Jesus, pointing out that he is the Word made flesh. In addition, it moves from Jesus’s birth to his death in noting the nails, spear, and cross, telling us that this child would go from the cradle to the cross but also why he bears it for me, for you. Not singing these words robs us both of a reminder of Jesus’s work but also of the personalization of it, so I think we should seek to keep it in rather than return back to the concluding words of verse 1.

The final verse doesn’t ask a question about the child like the first two verses but focuses on our response. It moves from the events of Christmas night to the events that happen at a later date, with the visit of the Magi calling for us to “bring him incense, gold, and myrrh,” which would stand as symbols of the praise and honor Jesus deserves. The next words note that this call to worship him and receive him is for people of all classes: “Come, peasant, king, to own him.” His nature and the nature of his word are highlighted in the next words (“The King of kings salvation brings”), and the words that follow turns back to our response of praise and honor (“Let loving hearts enthrone him. Raise, raise a song on high”). Those words of praise are then concluded by going back to the night of Christ’s birth as we sing “The virgin sings her lullaby. Joy, joy, for Christ is born, The babe, the Son of Mary.”

I think both the song itself and the story behind it is a great reminder of how God works through and in humble and odd circumstances. That it was written by an insurance guy in the midst of his struggles and then paired with a tune that might have some shady origins is a reminder that God works through a great variety of people, not just the kings or the pastors or those that have their acts together and through difficult circumstances. The song reflects upon the reality that our king came not just as a child but as one born in the midst of animals, yet he is the King that we should worship. This King is also one that went to the cross, rescuing us from our sin. At the same time we declare his majesty, we should also remember the personal relationship he seeks with us, honoring him and drawing near to him. Let us praise and worship the babe, the Son of Mary, not with lullabies but with our lives. 

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