How Far Is It To Bethlehem: The Plays and Poetry of Frances Chesterton

by Frances Chesterton, Nancy Carpentier Brown

Frances Chesterton, wife of British journalist G.K. Chesterton, was a gentle poet and playwright. Her sweet works long lay in obscurity, except for a few Christmas lyrics, which have never gone out of print. Her plays for children were in demand when she wrote them; there is a demand for them again today. Her poems and plays reveal a woman of deep thought, a spiritual woman, a woman longing for Christ, and especially drawn to Him at the Nativity, when He was a small baby. To read these works is to understand better G.K. Chesterton's wife and spiritual companion. And so, these works are offered back to a world that has almost forgotten them.

400 pages, Paperback

First published July 19, 2012

About the author

Frances Chesterton, born Frances Alice Blogg was an English author of verse, songs and school drama. She was the wife of G.K. Chesterton and had a large role in his career as amanuensis and personal manager.

Reviews

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're an American Catholic, then you are no doubt familiar with the works of G.K. Chesterton. He has written great works like, Orthodoxy and Heretics; the mysteries of Father Brown; and works on St. Francis of Assisi and St. Thomas Aquinas. What a lot of people don't know is that his wife, Frances, was also a writer herself. Nancy Carpentier Brown compiled a plethora of her writings in the book How Far is it to Bethlehem. Within this book are plays she wrote for Christmas Eve productions which the Chestertons put on each year. They apparently had a stage in their house for home entertainment! She also wrote poems on many subjects, but her Christmas ones appeared often time in Christmas cards.

The book itself contains six plays, with not all of them complete. The first one is about the Children's Crusade, which is said to have taken place in 1212 and is a particularly dark time in history. Several of the other plays are Christmas themed with the names, "The Christmas Gift" and "The Three Kings." The plays seem to be written in a couplet rhyming scheme, i.e., A,A,B,B,C,C, etc. Normally I would construe this as forced rhyming, but as these plays were written for children, I can see the appeal for little ones with rhyming that way. The plays were interesting, but it is a bit like reading Shakespeare in that you would rather see it performed than just read it yourself. It would be wonderful to see some Catholic English or Drama teacher try and do a local production of one of these plays.

The poems take up the remaining half of this book and are divided into assorted poetry and Christmas poems. Like most people's poetry, it was probably private writing that was never meant to be read by anyone, but I am grateful for Nancy for compiling them for us, as we would have never been exposed to her personality and genius otherwise. The Christmas Card poetry was easily my favorite section. In these beautiful poems, we can see France Chesterton's love for Jesus, particularly Christ at His Nativity. Here are a few stanzas from her 1917 Christmas poem for which this book is named:

How far is it to Bethlehem?
Not very far.
Shall we find the stable room
Lit by the star?

Can we see the little Child?
Is He within?
If we lift the wooden latch
May we go in?

May we stroke the creatures there
Ox, ass, or sheep?
May we peep like them and see
Jesus asleep?

I am not a world class poetry expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I enjoyed reading through Mrs. Chesterton's words. Some have a beautiful simplicity, and others blow you away with their depth. Even though her husband, G.K. Chesterton overshadowed his wife (not on purpose), this book shines a light on Frances' brilliance as well and shows how good of a match they were for each other. The old saying, "Behind every great man, there's a great woman" rings true with these two. If G.K. Chesterton is ever canonized, she will definitely be a large reason why. So if you are looking for a unique Christmas gift (or gift for any occasion), for that Chesterton fan in your life, I highly recommend How Far is it to Bethlehem.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nancy Brown has a passion for all things Chesterton, and she has inspired the same in me as I listen to her on the Uncommon Sense podcast. Nancy has a special love for Frances Chesterton, G.K.'s wife. This book, How Far Is It to Bethlehem: The Plays and Poetry of Frances Chesterton, was an inspired effort.

As Nancy tells it, she spent forever-and-a-half checking out and digging through old papers and books to pull out Frances's plays and poetry.

I think, after reading this compilation, that Frances was truly amazing. G.K.'s secret to success? Well, she didn't hurt anything, I think.

Bethlehem includes six original plays that Frances had written over the years for the kids who came to the Chesterton house for their annual Christmas party celebration. Real kids actually used these plays, and I can see why. My eight-year-old doesn't know about this book yet, but when she does, I'm pretty sure the dramatic flair in my house is going to hit the stage!

Though they were written just under 100 years ago, they have a classic feel to them: they make sense to the modern mind and open the door to contemplation on just what we're doing when we celebrate Christmas. (Hint: the gifts aren't all about new toys.)

But they're not preachy. They're not stuffy. They're actually full of humor and beauty.

And then there's the Christmas card poetry. Now, I'm not much of a poetry reader. I like the idea of liking poetry, but the truth is that it's work, which takes time I don't usually spend.

Frances Chesterton's Christmas poetry, though, is not work. Oh, it can be. But it's almost conversational, and the images it evokes are so tangible that you find yourself shivering and giggling and thinking about it hours later.

This book is a gem, and one I can't recommend enough.