A Birthday Flashcards
Heart
‘My heart is like a singing bird’
Rossetti’s first stanza, with the anaphora ‘My heart is like…’, sees the speaker attempting to find a suitable comparison to describe her happiness - the first line, ‘My heart is like a singing bird’ uses this particular simile to highlight the bird’s vocal expression as if it comes naturally to it, further emphasizing her inability to express her joy with words. She speaks of her heart as a ‘rainbow shell….in a halcyon sea’ - according to the Bible, the image of the rainbow refers to the fulfillment of God’s promises, and for English readers, the phrase ‘halcyon days’ was associated with ideas of joy and tranquility. The poem’s speaker uses the image of the halcyon sea to indicate the deep comfort and rest she has found, wanting to relate the joy directly to her religion, as a message that English readers in the Victorian era would understand.
Gladder
‘My heart is gladder than all these’
‘Raise me…‘Hang it’….’Carve it…’
Despite the many comparisons, Rossetti’s ‘heart is gladder that all’. She therefore issues a series of imperatives in the second stanza - ‘Raise me…‘Hang it’….’Carve it…’ - in order to construct something more solid and permanent as an expression of her joy. She now personifies the object’s, imbuing them with human capabilities and emotions, common for pre-Raphaelites to demonstrate the connection between nature and the divine.
Apple
‘My heart is like an apple-tree….thickset fruit’
The use of natural imagery, such as the ‘apple-tree’ and the ‘thickset fruit’, could have religious connotations in symbolizing the Garden of Eden - it appears that the narrator longs to go back to the beginning of Christianity, portraying a second chance after the sins of Adam and Eve. This indicates a certain resistance to temptations and sins, reinforcing her faith in religion. It perhaps echos the of end of Rossetti’s engagement with James Collinson, broken off for religious reasons - this demonstrates religion overcoming her desires and feelings.
Birthday
‘Because the birthday of my life is come, my love is come to me’
‘purple dyes….doves and pomegranates…silver grapes’
Alternatively, the second chance could be highlighted in the last two lines, with the incremental repetition suggesting a rebirth, perhaps alluding to the second coming of Christ. She further indicates a renewed faith, with ‘purple dyes’, carved ‘doves and pomegranates’, and ‘silver grapes’ strongly reminiscent of Solomon’s temple in the Bible, a place where humans connect with God. Rossetti examines the ambiguities of faith in the Victorian era, surrounded by science and major change which resulted in religious doubt - in many aspects, this devotional poem encourages readers to revert back to religion, her own faith reinforced.
