A Birthday; Christina Rosetti - Analysis

The first two stanzas in the poem offer an insight into the narrator’s past, showing the loss of her innocence the impact of the actions of the ‘great lord’ and an inner anger at her past actions, in the third and fourth stanzas the anger is directed at Kate for stealing the lord and sending her to her ruin, however in the fifth paragraph the direction of her anger is changed again and this time is directed at the lord himself. However the last stanza shows the narrator’s anger to be resolved for although she may have suffered an immense loss of reputation she can be happy now as she’s expressed her anger and knows within her heart that she has something neither the lord and lady Kate have: real love. This suggests that Rossetti doesn’t agree with confinement of the labels given by society, Kate is seen as ‘lovely and pure’ and she as ‘outcast’ but by presenting her as the one who is ultimately happy and proud it’s expressing that society values the wrong virtues, and has

The first stanza foregrounds the importance of love to the lyrical voice. Throughout the stanzas, the lyrical voice will express his/her particular feelings about something that occurred particularly to him/her. It shows the writing through experience. The poem begins by saying that this lover has no riches and, consequently, couldn’t share them with the lyrical voice “No riches from his scanty store/ My lover could impart”. Notice the alliteration on “scanty store”, which gives a soft feel to the first part of the stanza. Then, the lyrical voice states that this lover gave him/her something that he/she values more “He gave a boon I valued more-”: his heart “He gave me all his heart!”. Notice the great emphasis made on the last line and how the lyrical voice accentuates it by using a final dash and creating a pause at the end of the previous line.

A parallel to this in ‘Song’, Rossetti treats time as missed opportunities, “But pluck an ivy branch for me” demonstrating that she missed out on her youth and prime time but grew old before she had the chance to enjoy life. Using flower imagery, Rossetti compares the different states of life, “Violets are for the grave of youth”, a vibrant and exciting time and for someone to die young would be a shame. “And laurel for the perfect prime”, a symbol of continuity and everlasting life; however “withered leaves I chose”, Rossetti conveys a humble attitude as though she doesn’t deserve anymore.

The third stanza goes on to define the pain, only now in more emotional terms, such as "It hurts to thwart the reflexes / of grab, of clutch" (14-15), as well as the pain of continuously having to say good bye, each perhaps as if for the last time: "to love and let / go again and again" (15-16). These lines reinforce the impression that the first stanza's definition of "to love differently" is in fact an anti-freedom or state of emotional anarchy, now using words like "pester" to describe any separation; the poet is compelled "to remember / the lover who is not in the bed" (16), hinting at obsessive tendencies as being possible components of the relationship. We also learn that she believes love requires work, which she cannot do without her partner's assistance, and that this lack of cooperation frustrates her. She believes this neglected effort is the other party's fault by his failure to do his fair share, thereby leaving her own efforts ineffective, the whole of it characterized as an effort "that gutters like a candle in a cave / without air" (19-20). Her demands of this work are quite broad, encompassing being "conscious, conscientious and concrete" in her efforts and optimistically calling this work "constructive" (20-21) before ending the stanza.

The couplet of this sonnet renews the speaker's wish for their love, urging her to "love well" which he must soon leave. But after the third quatrain, the speaker applauds his lover for having courage and adoration to remain faithful to him. The rhyme couplet suggests the unconditional love between the speaker and his

The poem’s structure as a sonnet allows the speaker’s feelings of distrust and heartache to gradually manifest themselves as the poem’s plot progresses. Each quatrain develops and intensifies the speaker’s misery, giving the reader a deeper insight into his convoluted emotions. In the first quatrain, the speaker advises his former partner to not be surprised when she “see[s] him holding [his] louring head so low” (2). His refusal to look at her not only highlights his unhappiness but also establishes the gloomy tone of the poem. The speaker then uses the second and third quatrains to justify his remoteness; he explains how he feels betrayed by her and reveals how his distrust has led him

Apart from that, the poem consists of a series of turns that reflect different parts of the speaker’s feelings and the experiences he had. The significance of these turns is made possible through the use of stanza breaks. For example, the first

First, the poet uses metre, a style that emphasizes the use of a specific structure, which is an appropriate way of presenting poems with positive themes such as love. In this case, the poet achieves metre through the use of a uniform number of syllables in every line of the first stanza (10 syllables per line). This approach not only makes the poem memorable in recitation and listening but also relaxes the listener which is important in understanding the subject matter. Petrach uses a qualitative metre, which concentrates on the use of uniform syllabic arrangement. As a result, he creates an aesthetic euphony thus making the listener and the reciter to enjoy the presentation of the poem. The technique is appropriate in the presentation of a love sonnet. Equally, the first two stanzas have four lines each, but the last two stanzas have three lines each. This aspect aligns with the two perspectives presented in the poem, the first being his great affection for Laura, and the second is an expression of the pain he experiences as a result of the unreciprocated love. Furthermore, he has been unable to express his feelings to her, which compounds his pain evident in the words “I had love's tinder in my breast unburned, was it a wonder if it kindled there?” (Lines 8 – 9).

The author uses the poems structure and stanzas to help get her point across. The poem is composed of four stanzas with a total of 25 lines. Each stanza signifies a different part of the child’s life. The stanzas have irregular lengths and structures. The numbers of lines in each stanza vary from five to seven. Piercy separates the pieces of the story by stanzas to tell the girls story so the audience could see how she was treated since birth. For instance the first stanza talks about her birth and adolescent years, while the third and forth stanzas talk about the end of her life.

Thus rhyme is not just ornamental in “Echo,” but integral. The skill of Rossetti here is the same as in her half-serious, half-mocking poem “Eve,” even though the two poems are totally different. In “Eve,” she uses very plain rhyming words together with comically intended double rhymes. In “Echo,” her subject might be called fanciful and maybe even morbid, but the easiness of the rhyming words, like the diction of the poem generally, keeps the focus on regret and yearning rather than self-indulgence. As in all rhyming poems, Rossetti’s rhymes emphasize the conclusions of her lines. The rhymes go beyond this effect, however, because of the internal repetition — echoes — of the rhyming words, “Echo” is a poem in which rhyme is inseparable from

The structure of this poem is rather notable. It mimics the structure of a Clare sonnet, fourteen lines, iambic pentameter, AABBCCDDEEFFGG rhyme scheme. Both Italian and Shakespearean sonnets tended to be love poems. However, the Clare sonnet doesn’t quite fit properly with either, it’s a touch more simplistic in nature, which lends this poem something akin to irony. This poem isn’t simply a love poem, it’s poem about the frustration of love along with being a cautionary tale. It has a more

Finally, in the last quatrain the poet exposes his fear to love again when he compares himself to a fly who “hath ‘scaped the flame” and “will hardly come to play again with the fire” (9-10). In each quatrain the speaker reveals a new emotion which conveys his internal conflict to the reader. This closed form of poetry is also indicated by a rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. The speaker uses exact rhyme such as “strange”(1) and “range”(3) as well as slant rhyme such as “bait”(6) and “deceit”(8) conveying that the speaker is lost and misunderstood because he is angry at this woman, but he still is tempted by her. The poet also uses iambic pentameter in the work to make it conversational.

In this essay I shall explore the way poets Phillip Larkin and Elizabeth Jennings both show love. For Larkin I shall look at An Arundel tomb and Wild Oats and for Jennings I shall look at Absence and Disguises.

In Ted Kooser’s “A Birthday Card”, the poet is expressing how much his aunt cares about and loves him. This poem is about the relationship between the poet and his aunt show in this birthday card. Even though his aunt is very sick and weak, she still trying her best to write him a birthday card and wishes him with love. The setting for this poem is in poet’s forty-fourth birthday, his aunt who is in her eighties with a lot of illness and still uses all of her strength to write this birthday wishes to him. In this poem, the poet uses the third person point of view to describe the birthday card and the love though it from his aunt. This poem does not have several stanzas. It is a one piece, unbroken and continuous poem. The poet is writing this poem mainly from his feeling to tell his reader how great his aunt is. Ted Kooser always writes his poem from his past experiences and life events. In this poem, he is using the birthday card to show the reader one of the important person appears in his life and what did that person do to touches his heart. This poem is about the love from his aunt and how the poet expresses it on a short length poem.

Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “Sonnet IV” follows many of the conventions of the traditional Petrarchan sonnet. It follows the traditional rhyming scheme and octet, sestet structure. However it challenges the conventions of the typical subject of the Italian sonnet, unrequited love. In the octet at the beginning of the poem Millay uses images that give a sense of transience and in the ending sestet of the sonnet she contrasts the sense of impermanence given earlier with the idea that the speaker cannot forget the smiles and words of their ex-lover. This contrast between permanence and transience illustrates Millay’s interest in a fugacious relationship with everlasting memories. After further analysis of Millay’s highly structured rhyming scheme which puts emphasis on the last words of each line. She uses these words to further express her interest in exploring impermanent relationships by using words that are associated with an end or death.