a birthday Flashcards
metre
iambic tetramater
rhyme scheme
irregular rhyme scheme- love and excitement that cannot be contained
written
- written in 1857
anaphora
creates a sense of abundance, as though the speaker’s heart is so happy that they could think of an number of similarly happy things, but no simile is quite right, implying that words can not capture the bliss the speaker feels
fleurs de lyst
associated with Virgin Mary/ holy trinity: reinforcess her readiness to remove innocence
repetition of similies significance
alludes to joyous and incomprehendable nature pleasure of love/faith
‘nest is like…’ significant
domestic imagery: familial connection/fertility
significance of abundance of natural imagery
-fertility/ natrulness of love
-richness of emotion suggested by abundance of ‘thickset fruit’
‘my heart is like an apple tree’
link to apple gathering
connotations of fertility suggests apple is ripe and pure: readiness/longing for sexuality in the abundance of love
semantic feild of royalty in second stanza: ‘dais of silk’ ‘vair’ ‘purple’ ‘gold and silver’
places her lover/god on a pedestal
imagrey of luxury/richness shows intensity of love for god or this earthly love
links to language of pre-raphelite excess (aestheticism) and is at odds with rossettis usal denunciation of temporal delights (foreshadows her religious crisis where she disregards them)
indulgence in temporal delights suggests she has put love before god
pomegranates significance
symbol of fertility and desire for intimacy
grapes symbolism (biblical reference)
one of the crops of the fertile promised land of Israel (symbol of maternity/feritility)
‘birthday’ significance
rebirth: love gives a new significance to life
significance of time it was written
- written in 1857
- reunited with god after her religious hysteria leading to her illness
anaphora of My heart (and listing effect)
shows abundance and emotiopnal excitement
