Christina Rossetti’s "A Birthday"

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Christina Rossetti’s A Birthday, is a poem that express the trials a woman goes through during a relationship. This poem relates to women who resemble the same experience. Searching for true love and encountering relationships are few of the reasons why Rossetti writes this poem (The Life of Christina Rossetti). In the poem, there are words that show her feelings about her life now that she has found her true love (A Reading of A Birthday). At the end of the poem, she is capable of celebrating her happiness because her heart is restored. “A Birthday” has symbols that represent her relationship and cheerfulness.

According to Rossetti, the heart is a symbol that shows affection in the poem (Lines 1-8). Although this is more of a simile, it shows how she is currently feeling by using “like” or “as” (Lines 1, 3, and 5). The tone of the first stanza supports the way she used to feel after the departure of her partner. Secretly, she replaces her mind with her heart to express her affection towards her true love. Instead of her saying “I think,” she says “I feel,” and that is why she uses repetition between lines one through eight.

The heart is compared to many creatures of nature. One of those creatures is the singing bird; it is a sign of her relief from a discovery. The day she is full of happiness after her love

comes is known as her “birthday” (A Reading of A Birthday). After her period of loneliness, her heart is free because she feels excited about this tremendous transition.

Line three states: “My heart is like an apple tree….” The apple is a healthy fruit that symbolizes her internal and external strength. In other words, it explains the condition of her heart and body. Internally, she is incapable of eating or breathing w...

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...te temporarily. In addition to the purple dyes, silver and gold represents their wealth (What Does Gold Symbolize?).When it comes to finance, they will have enough money to pay bills and purchase other needs. Yellow and green are the colors in the rainbow that show hope and happiness in their relationship. In the poem, Rossetti hopes that the love of her life will remain in her presence to eternity.

Christina Rossetti wrote this poem to express her relationship with her partner. She uses plenty of symbols to explain her thoughts and feelings towards him. When the poem is read, is gives inference of her loneliness and solitude. Her expressions are used to show how she felt when her heart was broken by someone who did not care about her. The symbols listed above are emblems of her new relationship. She explains that she and her partner were meant to be together.

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