A birthday Flashcards
what is the structure of a birthday?
2 octaves
Iambic tetrameter (4 imabs per line instead of 5) – confidence, strength, unity of love
what is the rhyme of this poem?
First appears as ballad ABCB – common Victorian poetry
Actually -> ABCBDCEC (second half of octave repeats sounds from first)
Second stanza:
ABCB
Line 16 “me” echoes line 8 “me”- focus on her life and personal joy
Effects: musical, adds to euphony (combination of words that are nice to pronounce together) shows inability to contain delight.
what is the context of this poem?
Written on November 18th, 1857. (According to her notebooks)
Published in Macmillan’s Magazine in 1861
Included in Goblin Market and Other Poems, published in 1862.
A figurative birthday -> New beginnings
The day when the speaker’s love has arrived. Feel that now their life has officially begun.
Rossetti once said about this poem “I have more than once been asked whether I could account for the outburst of exuberant joy in this celebrated lyric; I am unable to do so.”
father died - 1857
John Brett - 1857
about to go to Highgate - help women there find religious faith and this joy.
“singing bird”
sweet and harmonious music to accompany arrival of love
“nest”
domesticity, intimacy, fertility
“apple-tree”
Perhaps a link to “An apple-gathering” wherein that narrator lost their love due to naivety and didn’t wait for maturity. Suggestion that this narrator allowed love to mature naturally and can now enjoy it
“rainbow shell that paddles in a halcyon sea;”
- Greek myth of Alcyone. Princess turned into a kingfisher (a kind of bird that nests near the sea). Zeus make the sea calm for a short period every year so she could lay her eggs.
- Rainbow appears after flood in biblical story of Noah’s Ark. Symbol of God’s protection to humanity- reflects the peace and contentment that accompanies faith.
- Delicacy of shell reflects the fragility of the speaker’s heart. The shell is floating/paddling in their tranquil mind.
“my heart is gladder than all these”
Breaks pattern of similes as value of love is higher than previous list.
“because my love is come to me”
Personal pronouns – intimacy of love.
“dais of silk and down”
- High platform usually for a throne for royalty. (Jesus as King of Kings?) silk and down are luxurious and often associated with royalty.
- language reminiscent of pre-Raphaelite excess. Juxtaposes her usual piety and denunciation of temporal delights. Foreshadow her religious crisis with her lover that occurred around composition date.
“raise me” “hang it” “carve it”
- List of imperative demands to accommodate their love and honour its arrival as they have a deep respect for it, and want to display the high value of this love to everyone.
“doves and pomegranates”
- Pomegranates = Symbolises Intricacy, delicateness, sanctity, fertility, abundance. Represent the richness of the promised land.
- Exotic, expensive, and valuable fruits contrast the “apple” from the first stanza. = Love is growing in intensity.
- Pomegranates have a deep purple colour – linking to “purple dyes”. Purple represents royalty.
- Doves = The Dove in Noah’s Ark that Noah sends out to see if the flood waters have receded, and which eventually returns with an olive branch. The dove is a symbol of peace, salvation, and deliverance.
“peacocks with a hundred eyes”
- Peacocks = ancient symbol of immortality and God’s omniscience (the “eyes” on their tails represent his all-seeing ability).
“gold and silver grapes”
Grapes = Symbolism of rebirth/birth. Connected to victory, ripe harvest shows promise of fruits being collected and produced into sustenance for the future.
“my life is come, my love is come to me.”
- associates love and life, emphasises that from the speaker’s perspective these are the same thing, and life wasn’t worth celebrating till they found love.
- End-stopped
what are the possible comparisons of this poem based on the theme of religion/spirtual love?
a Christmas carol, twice, goblin market.
