They all were looking for a king

They all were looking for a king. George MacDonald* (1824-1905). First published in A Threefold Cord: Poems by Three Friends (1883), a volume edited by MacDonald ‘not to be had of any bookseller, but by application to Mr W. Hughes, 34 Beaufort Street, Chelsea, London’. It had three stanzas. It was republished, with a revised stanza 3, in The Poetical Works of George MacDonald (1893), where it was entitled ‘That Holy Thing’. Percy Dearmer* came across it, and included it in SofP and SofPE. In Songs of Praise Discussed (1933) he described the poem as ‘these enchanting verses’ (p. 354). They are indeed a remarkable variation on the well-worn theme that the Christ-child came to earth in humble...