A Birthday Flashcards
“My heart is like a singing bird
Whose nest is in a water’d shoot”
A Birthday:
- Creates semantics of nature
- Image of a songbird connotes freedom that she feels with Christ
- Use of similes to compare nature to her lover depicts the depth of her joy
- Image of a nest over water seems negative however is quickly contradicted by her overwhelming feelings of love
- Anaphora “My love”, using possessive pronouns display the extent of her love, being a dominant presence in her life
“My heart is like an apple tree
Whose boughs are bent with thicket fruit;”
A Birthday:
- Contrasting image presenting the fragility of nature, also could be intended that her love is so overwhelming that all other aspects are obscured
“Raise me a dais of silk and down;
Hang it with vair and purple dyes;”
A Birthday:
- “Daise”, reflects a platform or lecturn, suggesting something important would be displayed
- Semantics of wealth and nobility, Rossetti isn’t seeking luxury, however she is representing spiritual well-being
- Purple, represent wealth and depict the roman empire, further reflecting spiritual wellness
“Carve it in doves and pomegranates,
And peacocks with a hundred eyes;”
A Birthday:
- Regardless of whom the love represents
- Songbird used to express melody in the form of human speech
- Pomegranates appear in Greek mythology, the fruit is also mentioned in the Bible, a fruit with erotic connotations
- Narrator relates her joy to the freedom of a bird
- Connection between love and nature is a common characteristic of the Pre-Raphelite collections
“Because the birthday of my life
Is come, my love is come to me.”
A Birthday:
- Satisfying resolution in which the poet embraces her “birthday”
- The spiritual love that is the culmination of her life
- Climactic peak where the joy is at a maximum
- possessive pronouns emphasise the personal nature of her love
