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 are 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