Notesale: Turn your study into money

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“A Birthday” Analysis
In the poem “A Birthday”, by Christina Rossetti, the speaker describes her enthusiasm
towards her “love’s” forthcoming birthday
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It can be deduced that the speaker is Rossetti, firstly, because the poem is written in first
person; and secondly, because it is not addressed to anybody in particular
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In the first stanza, the speaker compares her heart with some pleasant things from nature
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This anaphora creates the atmosphere that she cannot describe what
she feels with exact words, so she repeats the same thing as if trying to improve what she had
previously said
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But, in the first stanza, there is more diversity regarding imagery
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Subsequently, she compares her heart with an apple-tree, “Whose
boughs are bent with thickset fruit”, and a rainbow shell, “that paddles in a halcyon see”, both
in which she is now only using visual imagery
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But, on the second stanza, everything changes
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Now she is demanding
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She wants the podium to be perfectly
decorated with expensive materials and beautifully complicated details
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This words she uses
form visual images as well as in the first stanza
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This shows her loved one deserves everything
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As an Anglican
Christian, who has a strong feeling of attachment towards her religion, she has written several
religious themed poems through her life
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But, thinking about it through a religious point of view, it could easily mean
that the author is writing about the second coming of Christ
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The
dove is the Holy Spirit, and the pomegranate is a symbol of resurrection and hope of eternal
life (also symbolizes royalty and church)
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When the author writes about the “dais of silk and down” that she so desperately wants,
and when she describes her enthusiasm using comparisons on the first stanza, it can all be
seen as if she was not only excited by the new of the second coming of Christ, but also as if she
wanted to receive Him in all this glory and royalty that He apparently deserves
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Taking into account what was said
before about here Anglicanism, her “love” does not necessarily refer to a man, but to her Lord,
center of her life, Christ
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And, to bring closure to this, it can be said
that the poem, as complicated as it is, is actually clear, that no matter who this “love” is, she is
very happy about its arrival

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