Christina Rossetti’s "A Birthday"

1116 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Compare these two poems

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...

... middle of paper ...

...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.

Show More
Related

  • Quinceanera

    510 Words  | 2 Pages

    year. The girl celebrating has to do many things during the year to prepare for

    Read More

  • The Beginning Of The Song That Diverts The Heart Summary

    772 Words  | 2 Pages

    Right from the first stanza, we can clearly see that the girl emphasizes her passionate feelings towards the boy by explaining how she desires to be close to her love. Moreover, she expresses the theme of love through using a narrative of how she is prepared to trap a bird. Apparently, this symbolizes how she is prepared to trap her lover’s feelings with the desire to live together all through her life. Additionally, the young lady emphasizes on her overall beauty, her beautiful hair, and clothing which is of the finest linen which she uses to attracts her lover’s attention (Hennessy & Patricia, p.

    Read More

  • Critical Analysis Of Marilyn Dumont's 'When You Walk Through My Door'

    1064 Words  | 3 Pages

    The first stanza describes the depth of despair that the speaker is feeling, without further explanation on its causes. The short length of the lines add a sense of incompleteness and hesitance the speaker feels towards his/ her emotions. This is successful in sparking the interest of the readers, as it makes the readers wonder about the events that lead to these emotions. The second and third stanza describe the agony the speaker is in, and the long lines work to add a sense of longing and the outpouring emotion the speaker is struggling with. The last stanza, again structured with short lines, finally reveals the speaker 's innermost desire to "make love" to the person the speaker is in love

    Read More

  • "Perfect Dress" by Marisa de los Santos

    989 Words  | 2 Pages

    The verbose use of imagery in this poem is really what makes everything flow in this poem. As this poem is written in open form, the imagery of this writing is what makes this poem poetic and stand out to you. Marisa de los Santos begins her poem with “Its here in a student’s journal, a blue confession in smudged, erasable ink: ‘I can’t stop hoping/ I’ll wake up, suddenly beautiful’” (1-3). Even from the first lines of this story you can already picture this young girl sitting at her desk, doodling on her college ruled paper. It automatically hooks you into the poem, delving deeper and deeper as she goes along. She entices you into reading more as she writes, daring you to imagine the most perfect woman in the world, “cobalt-eyed, hair puddling/ like cognac,” (5-6). This may not be the ideal image of every person, but from the inten...

    Read More

  • Symbolism in The Great Gatsby and The Raven

    881 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout The Great Gatsby the narrator, Nick, describes the colors that the characters wear and colors that are shown throughout the novel. The colors serve as major symbols in the book. “Daisy’s white wardrobe, the image of the green light across the bay, the yellow coupe- each color represents a character trait or idea (Weisbrod, 105).” Gold is one of the more symbolic colors in the story and is shown many times throughout the book. The color gold represents money, wealth, and the extravagance of the rich; however, it can also represent death. Although Gatsby hides the fact that he does not have a lot of money, his yellow car symbolizes that he pretends to be wealthy and how he wants people to perceive him as a rich man for Daisy. When Daisy was in Gatsby’s yellow car, she ran over and killed Myrtle, Tom’s mistress. The color lavender, most seen throughout the book and one of the more prominent colors in the story is also a symbol. Lavender represents royalty and nobility. Daisy was very wealthy and was looked upon as a royal citizen. She is always seen dressed in lavender and that is her favorite color. The inside of Gatsby’s mansion had many things that were the color lavender. Throughout the story he is often seen wearing lavender shirts. “The rich rainbow of shirt colors that explode from Gatsby’s armoire emphasizes the richness and...

    Read More

  • Romance de la Luna, Luna

    1023 Words  | 3 Pages

    The story of this poem tells about a young boy that is lured in by the sensuousness of the moon, and then dies because of his own desire for her. The symbolic meaning is much more hidden and disguised by the literary elements of the poem. The storyline and aspects of the literal story add meaning when searching for the figurative meaning. The warning learned from this poem is that infatuation with anything can lead to a downfall. The moon seemed to offer a comfort that attracted him, but it was only a disguise to lead him to death. The passion the young boy felt for the moon can easily be modified to describe the passion a person can feel for anything. The young boy saw safeness in the moon that brought him closer to her. Any obsession will seem to offer the same comforts that the young boy also saw, but this poem warns that death can always disguise itself.

    Read More

  • Maya Angelou's Graduation into Maturity

    522 Words  | 2 Pages

    In her first autobiography, Maya Angelou tells about her childhood through her graduation through, “Graduation”, from “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” when she is about to graduate. She starts as an excited graduate because she was finally going to receive her diploma, a reward for all her academic accomplishments. On the day of her graduation finally comes, that happiness turns into doubt about her future as she believes that black people will be nothing more than potential athletes or servants to white people. It wasn’t until Henry Reed started to sing the Negro National Anthem that she felt on top of the world again. Throughout her graduation she felt excited to disappointed, until Henry Reed sang and made her feel better.

    Read More

  • The Birthday Party

    527 Words  | 2 Pages

    When a wife surprises her husband on his birthday, an ironic turn of events occurs. Katherine Brush’s “The Birthday Party” is a short story about relationships, told from the perspective of a nearby observer. Brush uses the words and actions of the married couple to assert that a relationship based on selfishness is weak.

    Read More

  • Analysis of What Are Years? by Marianne Moore

    261 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the poem “What Are Years,” written by Marianne Moore there are two poetic devices being used in order to convey the meaning of the poem. Through the use of different figures of speech and unique forms, she discusses the different life stages a person experiences.

    Read More

  • Harlem Dancer Poem Analysis

    700 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Rossetti’s poem “In an Artist’s Studio”, she illustrates a man in the art studio surrounded around his canvases. On each of his canvases, he has painted the same woman in different positions, as depicted in, “One selfsame figure sits or walks or leans” (Rossetti 104). This man continuously paints the same women, each time depicting her differently as demonstrated, “A saint, and angel…” (Rossetti 104). Similarly, in McKay’s poem he illustrates for the readers, a dark skinned, half clothed woman dancing. Both of these poems focus on how men view women, and how men idealize women for their beauty, or some other desirable part of them. Both of these poets express that men do not appreciate the wholeness and complexity of both of these women. McKay’s idealized woman is also a woman of colour, which may lead into a discussion of race gender, and sexuality. In Rossetti’s poem, the artist “feeds upon” (Rossetti 104) the object of his affection, “not as she is, but as she fills his dreams” (Rossetti 104). Also, McKay’s narrator idealizes her physical beauty and describes how everyone “devoured” her beauty, even though “her self was not in that strange place” (McKay 18). The main difference is that McKay’s narrator sees his desired woman as having “grown lovelier for passing through a storm” (McKay 18), whereas Rossetti’s artist uses his art to wash away the pain-and by extension, the

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Christina Rossetti's 'Amor Mundi'

    1050 Words  | 3 Pages

    Beneath Christina Rossetti’s poetry a subtext of conflict between the world of temptation and the divine kingdom exists. Hugely aware of her own and others desires and downfalls her poetry is riddled with fear, guilt and condemnation however her works are not two dimensional and encompass a myriad of human concerns expanding beyond the melancholy to explore love and fulfilment.

    Read More

  • Use of Poetic Devices in Two Love Poems

    970 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...to help express the theme of the poems by illustrating the role the subject matter played in the life of the persona during their grieving period. Furthermore, metaphors helped communicate the thoughts and feelings of the personas by providing the reader with insight into the relationships and emotions covert in the poem. All in all, the poetic devices incorporated in each individual poetic composition played vital roles in the emotional and dramatic impact of these poems. And who knows, the immaculate use of these fundamental literary devices could be the key to successful love poems all around the world.

    Read More

  • Goblin market by Christina Rossetti

    912 Words  | 2 Pages

    Christina Rossetti's, 'Goblin Market' is one of the most controversial poems of it's time. Although she insisted it was meant to be seen as a childrens fairytale, many readers have interpreted it as an erotic poem, many seeing it as a warning for young women against the temptations of sex. The poem has many hidden inuendos. For example the Goblin's describe the fruit in a sensual way, “Plump unpecked cherries” (line 7). Cherries are seen as a sign of virtue so this a clear example of a sexual situation. There is also a very strong religious theme in this poem. The fruit the goblin merchants are offering is a very clear symbol of Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit. “Obviously the conscious or semi-conscious allegorial intention of this narrative poem is sexual/religious.” (Gilbert and Gubar, 566). This essay will discuss the theme of sensuous experience in terms of what makes this poem erotic, female sexuality and it also aims to discuss the religious symbolism in Rossetti's, 'Goblin Market'.

    Read More

  • Split Sisters and Split Personalities of Goblin Market

    1801 Words  | 4 Pages

    Harrison, Anthongy H. Christina Rossetti in Context. University of NC Press, Chapel Hill and London: 1988.

    Read More

  • In An Artist's Studio By Christina Rossetti Summary

    1170 Words  | 3 Pages

    Christina Rossetti's poem, “In An Artist’s Studio”, explores how men foster a need for control by creating unrealistic expectations for women through their fantasies. Through the use of repetition, contrast of imagery, and symbolism, Rossetti guides us through the gallery inside of an artist’s mind, portraying the fantasies that give him a sense of control over the women he creates.

    Read More

More about Christina Rossetti’s "A Birthday"

Open Document