My Birthday
Take “A Birthday” by Christina Rossetti. By close reference to the text, show how the persona’s mood is indicated through the opulence of the images chosen
In the first stanza, Christina Rossetti creates a mood of happiness and love. She describes her heart as “a singing bird” and this is forms an image of simple, natural joy. She moves on to say that the bird is in a nest which is a safe, warm place. The nest is in “watered shoot” which suggest development and growth. The connection between the nest and the shoot is her heart. Her love is still developing but it is in a safe and warm place as it grows. Just like the shoot in the nest, it is being nurtured. She next compares her heart to “an apple tree” which unlike the shoot is established and developed. This suggests that her love has grown into an older, more permanent love. Because the tree is filled with fruit it shows that her love is growing and it is ripe. The nature she describes is innocent, just like her love. Nothing is hidden because there is no shame. The next image she creates is a rainbow, which is almost mystical and imaginary. She says “like a rainbow shell that paddles in a halcyon sea”, this suggests that her love has no set path to follow and it is just floating around in a calm area until it finds a way to travel. The fact that she says “in a halcyon sea”, tells us that there is no fighting in her life, it is tranquil and calm. A rainbow is God’s promise, so that could tell us that her love is promising and strong. The images she creates are increasing in intensity just like her love is growing stronger over the years. All the images created are beautiful and pure. She goes on to say that all of this is ecstatically beautiful and it is measureless, she can’t put her love into words. It is perfectly pure and beautiful.
The second stanza changes tone from being descriptive to being more action filled, she is commanding things as if she were in a position of power. “Raise me”, “carve it”,
In the first stanza, Christina Rossetti creates a mood of happiness and love. She describes her heart as “a singing bird” and this is forms an image of simple, natural joy. She moves on to say that the bird is in a nest which is a safe, warm place. The nest is in “watered shoot” which suggest development and growth. The connection between the nest and the shoot is her heart. Her love is still developing but it is in a safe and warm place as it grows. Just like the shoot in the nest, it is being nurtured. She next compares her heart to “an apple tree” which unlike the shoot is established and developed. This suggests that her love has grown into an older, more permanent love. Because the tree is filled with fruit it shows that her love is growing and it is ripe. The nature she describes is innocent, just like her love. Nothing is hidden because there is no shame. The next image she creates is a rainbow, which is almost mystical and imaginary. She says “like a rainbow shell that paddles in a halcyon sea”, this suggests that her love has no set path to follow and it is just floating around in a calm area until it finds a way to travel. The fact that she says “in a halcyon sea”, tells us that there is no fighting in her life, it is tranquil and calm. A rainbow is God’s promise, so that could tell us that her love is promising and strong. The images she creates are increasing in intensity just like her love is growing stronger over the years. All the images created are beautiful and pure. She goes on to say that all of this is ecstatically beautiful and it is measureless, she can’t put her love into words. It is perfectly pure and beautiful.
The second stanza changes tone from being descriptive to being more action filled, she is commanding things as if she were in a position of power. “Raise me”, “carve it”,