A Birthday By Christina Rosetti

A Birthday – Christina Rossetti
STRUCTURE:
2 stanzas of equal length (8 verses).
Presented in the same manner: indentations. In the first stanza, each pair of verses constitutes mini-stanzas that are marked by the indentation of the second line. This makes the anaphora of “My heart” more visible to the eye. The author wants to make it clear that the subject is love.
It has a structure that reminds love hymns, with its regular ABCB rhyme scheme. The anaphora of “My heart” and repetition of “my love is come” are like a chorus.
Neatly structured poem, without eccentricities, the author intends to concentrate on her love and wants to expose it in an orderly fashion, so that everyone can understand her happiness.
Imagery and symbolism
The imagery used in the first stanza draws on familiar natural objects but can also be read at another level in the light of Rossetti's knowledge of the Bible. In the second verse, the focus is on artificial objects hung, carved and worked by human hands. Various images in this verse demonstrate an awareness of traditional Christian art, as well as reflecting and celebrating human creativity.
A singing bird - To a ‘singing bird' (line 1), vocal expression is as natural as breathing. By speaking of her ‘heart' in these terms, the speaker indicates that her song forms a natural part of herself and is an overflow of her identity. The image of the singing bird is one which is often used in Romantic poetry. William Wordsworth emphasised the importance of expressing natural feelings when he argued that it was his intention to create a poetry which was a ‘spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings'.
A watered shoot - By having a ‘nest' in a ‘watered shoot' (line 2), the speaker suggests that the sustenance upon which she can live and rest has been provided:
The word shoot alludes to the first stages of growth of a plant as it emerges from the ground. By describing a shoot as ‘well watered', the poem conveys ideas of lushness and fertility. However, rather than making a nest in a full grown tree, by making it in a shoot, the singing bird remains in a place of fragility, since it is easy to uproot or destroy a shoot
The idea of being watered has biblical connotations. In the Old Testament book of Isaiah, the believers in Jerusalem are encouraged by God's promise that he will guide them and provide for their needs:
The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs … You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
An apple tree - The image of the ‘apple tree / Whose boughs are bent with thickset fruit' (lines 3-4) would be a familiar sight in an age more in touch with its agricultural roots than today
It recalls the imagery in Keats' Ode to Autumn. This begins by describing fruit ripe and ready on apple trees:
Season of mist and mellow fruitfulness
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round he thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
Mention of apples might also lead Rossetti's readers to think of the accounts of the first humans in the Garden of Eden before the Fall where they lived in perfect peace with nature and one another. It is also likely that Rossetti is alluding to the biblical concept of the Tree of Life. The writer of the Old Testament book Proverbs, declares that those who ‘lay hold' of this tree ‘will be blessed' (Proverbs 3:18).
Rainbow … halcyon - By speaking of her heart as a ‘rainbow shell / That paddles in a halcyon sea' (lines 5-6), the speaker provides an image of exuberant colour drifting at ease in tranquil waters.
According to the Bible, the image of the rainbow refers to the fulfilment of God's promises, when God helped Noah to escape the flood which wiped out the known world. He then set a rainbow in the sky as a promise that never again would such an event occur (Genesis 19:3)
It is possible that the speaker perceives that God's promises are being fulfilled in her life and wants to celebrate this
The term ‘halcyon' comes from the Greek myth of a bird (possibly a kingfisher) which was said to breed about the time of the winter solstice in a nest floating on the sea. According to ancient writers, it charmed the wind and waves so that the sea was especially calm during the period.
For English readers, the phrase ‘halcyon days' was associated with ideas of joy, prosperity and tranquillity
The poem's speaker uses the image of the halcyon sea to indicate the deep comfort and rest she has found.
By ending the first verse with the declaration that her ‘heart is gladder than all these' (line 7), the speaker indicates that descriptions of the natural world are incapable of fully expressing her exuberant emotional state.
Pathetic fallacy - The speaker of A Birthday uses the technique of pathetic fallacy when she gives emotions to the ‘apple tree' full of fruit and the ‘rainbow shell'. This is the treatment of inanimate objects, such as trees and houses, as if they had human feelings, thought or sensations. The term was invented by critic John Ruskin in 1856 when he wrote that the aim of the pathetic fallacy was ‘to signify any description of inanimate natural objects that ascribes to them human capabilities, sensations and emotions'.
The Temple - Rossetti draws on the imagery used in the Old Testament to discuss the Temple which symbolised God's presence with his people. For the Jews in the Old Testament, the Temple was the place where they met with God. A Birthday mentions purple hangings, carved fruit and statues of animals, which all figure in the descriptions of Solomon's Temple given in 1 Kings 6:14, 1 Kings 6:18, 1 Kings 6:29 and 2 Chronicles 3:14 and 2 Chronicles 3:16.
More on the Temple: In the teachings of the early church, recounted in the New Testament, the idea of God's Temple shifts in meaning. Christians generally understand this Temple to be a model of an individual's heart, where God communicates with the human soul. This understanding comes from the New Testament teaching that every Christian believer is understood as a temple in which the Holy Spirit can dwell.
A Dais - The word ‘dais' (line 9) indicates a raised platform. The speaker seems to envisage a structure built in celebration of the return of her love. The ‘silk and down' from which it is made are materials of softness and luxury, as well as conveying lightness, which adds to the sense of uplifting that the poem conveys
‘Dais' is also a word commonly associated with the raised part of a church upon which the altar and communion table are placed. Rossetti attended a high Anglican church (see Religious / philosophical context > Tractarianism) which emphasised the significance and symbolism of the structure of the church building and would have undoubtedly made use of a dais.
Royalty and nobility - The imagery of ‘vair', ‘purple', ‘gold', ‘silver' and ‘fleur-de-lys' (line 10) is imagery traditionally associated with royalty and nobility
‘vair' is an expensive fur obtained from a variety of squirrel with a grey back and white belly. It was often used in the 13th and 14th centuries as a trimming or lining for garments and is associated with heraldry
The dye used to create purple tones was so expensive it was only available to the rich and therefore, became a colour associated with royalty
Precious metals are associated with crowns and other regalia
The fleur–de-lys is a heraldic symbol derived from the lily. It was often engraved on the armour of royalty.
Birds - Following the description of the singing bird in the first verse, the second alludes to representation of doves and peacocks on the dais.
Doves are used in the Bible to represent:
Reconciliation and peace. This arises from the story of Noah, when a dove sent out from the Ark returns with an olive leaf in its beak, signifying that the storm / flood was over (Genesis 8:11)
The Holy Spirit, as at the baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:16)
The description of ‘peacocks with a hundred eyes' (line 12) corresponds to a traditional and mythical understanding of the bird as a symbol of all-seeing God.
Investigating imagery and symbolism
Themes
Self-expression and the natural world
A Birthday is concerned with natural and spontaneous expression through song or poetry, beginning with the image of the ‘singing bird' (l.1). Poetry provides a natural outlet for the speaker's emotions.
Memory and forgetfulness
Memory is a sustaining force in this poem. In A Birthday, the speaker's joy in the arrival in her love is bound up in the memory of what he means or has meant to her. This hints at the notion that identity is founded upon memory and that self-awareness is constructed by the remembrance of a former self.
How does the poet convey intense feelings in this poem?
The poem is structured like a hymn about love. The regular, alternate rhyme scheme adds to this. The two stanzas are in perfect balance, using the chorus-like refrain 'my heart is' and 'my love is come to me.' The first stanza lists a series of similes where Rossetti compares her feelings - 'my heart' to a series of images of the beauty of the natural world, increasing in rarity and beauty as the first stanza progresses.

The poet describes the intense feelings she experiences 'because my love is come to me'. The possessive pronoun 'my' appears frequently, as if love is a possession. As we see later, the poet shows it is richer than any of the most luxurious possessions in the world. The use of the pronoun 'me' shows that the poem is very self-focused. This poem is all about feelings - there are no real objects, only the rich sensations that her love conjures up in her imagination.

First, Rossetti compares her heart to a 'singing bird'. The verb 'singing' evokes joy as great as song, which she elaborates with imagery of the 'nest' - a place of safety and fertility, which links to the idea of the 'watered shoot' - something, which will grow. However, a watered shoot is small, and young. The next image is older and more substantial. The lush, fertile imagery continues in the motif of the 'apple tree' so full its 'boughs are bent with thickset fruit'. This extravagantly plush ripeness suggests that the love she feels is growing, ripe and perfectly natural, simple and pure. The imagery of nature suggests intensely innocent and artless feeling.

The image of a 'rainbow shell' becomes more mystical, linked to the idea of a 'halcyon' or idyllic sea: the rainbow is not tangible; it is symbolic of shimmering beauty and of God's promise to protect mankind. As the images increase in intensity, so does her feeling. In the last couplet of the stanza, her feeling increases even beyond these: as the use of the comparative 'my heart is gladder than all these' shows. This is an ecstatic, almost measureless joy at love: as if to say, her pleasure in her love is greater than anything she can put into words.

The mood in the second stanza shifts into a series of imperatives - commands: 'raise me' 'hang it', 'carve it', 'work it' as if she were an emperor. She demands exotic riches. ‘purple’, 'gold' and 'silver' are precious colors suggesting material wealth, and the 'fleur de lys' is a symbol of kings. The fruits she asks for are exotic, rare and expensive consumables: 'pomegranates', 'grapes' and she asks for exotic birds 'peacocks' and 'doves' in contrast to the more homely images of the first stanza with birds, apples and rainbows. This continues the effect that her love is growing in intensity - shifting from the everyday to the exotic and rare. The images chosen look back to the Victorian ideal of the medieval period as a pure, romantic age. The opulent imagery suggests an intense, rich experience.

Rossetti's choice of the definite article over the indefinite emphasizes this is not just like a birthday, it is 'the birthday of her life'. We don't normally say 'the birthday' so it stands out as an unusual phrase. 'A' birthday is a special occasion that happens yearly, but is one of many. 'The' birthday of her life is something huge: it's the most important, special occasion of her life, and in the final line she uses both 'me' and 'my' to draw the focus of the feelings back into her.

“A Birthday”,
In the poem, “A Birthday”, Christina Rossetti uses extensive and positive imagery, mostly pertaining to natural descriptions. In fact, the whole poem is composed of imagery that is all solely for the purpose of relaying the sense of pure joy the speaker is feeling. The first line starts off with “My heart is like a singing bird” which gives the impression that her heart feels as elated as a bird does when singing. Another example is, “My heart is like an apple tree whose boughs are bent with thick-set fruit.” This illustrates the fact that just like the apple tree with its limbs full of apples, the speaker’s heart is also “full” which could mean they are content, fulfilled, at peace, or something along those lines. The speaker also says “My heart is like a rainbow shell,” a colorful image possibly meaning that her “colorful” heart means the speaker feels vibrant and bright. Obviously the first part of the poem explains the emotions that the speaker is feeling. The second part of the poem is more focused on celebratory imagery, celebrating the speaker’s anticipation for the “birthday of their life.” It’s clearly known that the speaker is in love when they say “Carve it in doves and pomegranates,” since both doves and pomegranates symbolize love and romance. From these examples it can be confirmed that the speaker gives a lot of picturesque examples meant for explaining how the speaker passionately feels ecstatic, happy, and in love. Most of the imagery mentions natural things like plants, animals, etc. and this poem describes the speaker’s joy and bliss, which means that the speaker associates nature with feelings of happiness and romance.
“A Birthday”,
The idea is that for this person, the love of their life has made them feel reborn – that life begins anew, life begins properly now that they’re in it. “The birthday of my life / is come, my love is come to me.” Since “my love” has finally come to Rossetti, it feels like “the birthday of my love” has similarly arrived – she has literally emerged from darkness: her love’s arrival heralds her rebirth, her entry into the world, the first breath, the glorious image of discovery and presence and life. We can apply this to our own lives, the headiness of falling in love and its impossibility to capture in words (hence our reliance on bad cliché to communicate those feelings). An alternative interpretation is that this love is Rossetti’s religious love – her rebirth sparked by her love of Christ, which is equally possible. The sites included below give an interesting insight into the religious nature of some of the images that she uses, though remember, these should be additional, alternative interpretations to your own individual, independent analysis of the text.
The is actually quite a lovely, beautiful poem, replete with natural imagery and stuffed to the brim with love. It’s quite a compliment really, this poem, centralizing as it does on the idea of the sheer power that her love, or lover, brings to her. Her intention is to share this joy with us, to give us an insight into the happiness she feels, how marvelously uncaptureable (new word) it is, how the feeling goes beyond words and can only be appreciated through joyous experience, and how she wants to show her appreciation and value it by surrounding it with beautiful things. Stanza 1 uses so many beautiful images that, despite their beauty, simply don’t do justice to her happiness (for “my heart is gladder than all” those things – it’s a lovely idea for the poet, whose desperate simile-search just isn’t successful enough: no words exist to capture her joy). The beautiful setting she wants to use to show off her love, celebrate it, absolutely emphasizes the value she accords to it. Her feelings of love are thrilling, giddy, exciting and powerful.

Line-by-line Analysis of ‘A Birthday’ by Christina Rossetti
1-2) Christina Rossetti celebrates her state of bliss on finding the love of her life – God. The poet is unable to contain her emotions and opens the poem with a simile, comparing her heart (representing emotion) to a singing bird. Rossetti goes on to add that she feels like a bird nestling in a shoot that is succulent and nourishing.
3-4) In the next simile she compares her heart to an apple tree whose branches are laden with fruit. The word ‘bent’ is representative of the humbleness she experiences through her love for God.
5-6) The poet compares her heart to a little shell reflecting the colours of the rainbow as it moves gently along the calm sea-bed.
7-8) Unable to contain her joy, she uses the comparative degree “gladder” to indicate that she feels more than all these things, the reason being that her love has found her.
9) Rossetti shifts from comparison to worship. She craves to set up an alter decorated with the finest things money can buy like silk and soft feathers. (tactile imagery)
10) She declares her intention to decorate the alter with soft squirrel fur and fabric flaunting purple dyes.
11) She talks about carvings of doves, the birds of peace, and pomegranates.
12) She also mentions peacock feathers flaunting numerous eyes.
13) Rossetti also talks about decorating the alter with carvings of gold and silver grapes.
14) She craves to worship God from a space that is rich with decorative elements such as silver fleurs-de-lys.
15) Rossetti finally declares in this curtail sonnet the reason for her joy being her rejuvenation of soul in her love for God.
16) Rossetti declares with heart full of gratitude that her love has come to her.