The poem A Birthday has a title, which is very positive and creates an atmosphere of joy, excitement and celebration. This is a very clever title for a love poem as many of the emotions felt for a birthday are felt when a person is in love. The first line of this poem contains a symbol of the human love, “heart”. The simile relates the singing bird to a heart because birds sing because they are free and this is how the poet feels their heart is when in love. The first line also contains an example of assonance and this has the effect of light and cheerfulness, which continues through the rest of the poem. The word “nest” suggests safety, security and comfort, which is Rossetti’s idea of love. The use of the word “shoot” suggests new life, yet one line later the shoot has matured into an “apple tree” much like her love has for her lover. When the poet uses the word “bent” implies that her lover is laden, overflowing and in excess. “Rainbow” is a word that makes the atmosphere seem magical, colourful and natural. Whereas the word “paddles” suggests young innocence, which is alike to her love. This innocence is equally similar to the poem First Love.
When the poet says, “blood rushed to my face” he is describing how embarrassed he feels. Clare feels anxious and he is unsure of his feelings at this point. “sight away” displays how Clare feels that he is so overwhelmed by love that he can see nothing other than his deep love for this beautiful woman. A use of pathetic fallacy would be “midnight at noonday”. To the character the sun has gone, and it has become nighttime. This represents that he realises that his love does not return his feelings, as the atmosphere is much darker. Clare becomes very upset now that he understands his love’s feeling and so the poem goes, “could not see a thing”. “Words from my eyes did start” this describes in metaphorical language how the character is crying and wants his love to understand the pain that he is in, he is trying to speak through his tears. The poet also tries to portray his feelings when he says, “spoke as chords do”. This is his way of describing the effect of how music can play peoples emotions and the effect that music has on people. “blood burnt round my heart” is a way that Clare is trying to describe how passionate, hot and caught up in his emotions he is. The use of the word “burnt” is a very negative look on love whereas the poem How Do I Love Thee? is very different in that it has a cheery point of view.
The poem How Do I love Thee? continues to be very cheerful and there is no major change in the direction that the poet is going. The poet repeats the words “I love thee” to reinforce to the reader the fact that she truly loves him and only him. She continues to describe to the reader her feelings that her love is not just a passion that shall not last long, “quiet need”. When the author uses the words “sun...candlelight” she is portraying to the reader that her love is a positive idea. The poet could have not used these words and this would have symbolised that her love was not a positive part of her life. “Freely” indicates that the poet wants her love to be seen as natural and not forced. Later Barrett Browning uses the word “purely” implies that the love has been god-given and that it is innocent, this makes the love more special to the reader as they feel that it is pure and not wasted on someone who does not appreciate it. The reader is assured that the love shall be true when the poet continues to describe her love with heart-felt emotion. The poem develops by becoming more intensified and the reader has not lost interest in this poem.
The poem A Birthday is also very cheerful which is alike to the poem How Do I Love Thee? The poet feels that nothing can compare to her love when she says, “gladder than all these”. When the poet says, “my love” she is telling the reader that she only has one love and as she has not said lover the reader feels that this love is special. Rossetti uses many words, which symbolise status; this is done to show the importance of her love to her, these status symbols include “vair”, “peacocks” and “pomegranates”. The reader can also distinguish her love as being luxurious when she symbolises her bed with the words “dais of silk and down”. When the poet uses imperatives she is demonstrating her confidence that she feels in her love, “Raise me” and “Hang it”. Rossetti uses the word “doves” in her poem because they symbolise innocence, peace and purity. The “doves” also represent soul mates and that the poet feels that she has found her true love as doves have true soul mates for the rest of their lives. “grapes” are a food that was foods for the Gods in Greek and Roman times. “grapes” are also symbolised as being intoxicating and sensual which is how she feels about her love.
The poet of First Love feels very strongly about his love stealing his heart and this is comparable to A Birthday. Clare becomes philosophical when he says, “flowers ... winters choice”. Clare deliberates why he is destined to fall in love with someone who does not love him in return. The poet continues to consider his unfortunate destiny when he uses a contrast, “loves bed ... snow”. Love should be something that is warm, happy and serene, however Clare feels that love is deathly, painful and harsh. Later the poet uses sibilance to sooth his feeling of rejection, “She seemed ... silent”. This slows down the poem and appears to calm his feelings. Even though Clare is feeling many different emotions he remembers how sweet his love is when he refers back to the beginning of the poem, “so sweet a face”. The poem ends with Clare despairing that he will love no one else and that this lady has stolen his heart forever, “return no more”. The poet has a new feeling of rejection and doubt within in himself that is very different to how he first felt about his love. This is comparable to the poem How Do I Love Thee which is much more positive from beginning to end.
Towards the end of the poem How Do I Love Thee the poet suffers religious doubts and she feels that her love is capable of destroying any worries that she feels, this can be seen, “love I seemed to lose”. Barrett Browning cleverly creates a mini climax by using a pause and this effect makes the reader excited, “saints – I”. “with the breath” indicates the poet feels that she cannot live without her love just as she cannot live without oxygen. Barrett Browning also feels that she and her love can survive anything as she wrote, “smiles, tears”. This proves to the reader further that her love is not taken lightly. The poet continues with the idea of religion in her poem when she refers back to God, “if God choose.” Barrett Browning wants the reader to understand her trust and belief in god and portrays this through her implicate trust that he will allow her love to continue. The poem ends with the poet displaying her trust in love by describing it as lasting immortally when she says, “after death”. The poet feels that her love is too pure and too right to be just mortal. The poet continues to prove her love to the reader when she places emphasis on a word “but” however it is unnecessary as she has made her point numerous times before. This emphasis is likewise to the poem A Birthday which uses a different form of emphasis.
A Birthday is a poem that continues to be overwhelming and cheerful. This can be seen when the poet looks at how her love is very similar to a birthday directly. “birthday of my life” is the section of the poem that relates to this. Rossetti’s love symbolises new life just like birthdays represent new life. The word “birthday” brings memories of bliss, excitement and joy, which is directly related to how the poet feels about her love. The poet continues to be unable to contain her euphoria and happiness when she repeats herself, “is come ... is come”. Love is represented as being linked, exciting and overflowing and not rigid through the rhyme scheme. The final message of the poem A Birthday is that her love is incredibly special and that the poet is incredibly lucky to be blessed with love as exciting and compelling as this love. The beginning and the end of A Birthday are very similar as they both praise love and celebrate it.
All three of the poems are related because each of them provides a feeling of affection and elation. I feel that the key difference between the poem First Love, How Do I Love Thee and A Birthday are the endings. The ending of the poem First Love is a very negative and this differs to the [poems A Birthday and How Do I Love Thee, which end in a very enthusiastic and self – assured way. I admire the poet of First Love for his clever portrayal of how love can break a heart, and I was particularly captivated by the use of metaphorical language. The poem How Do I Love thee looks at love in a pure and holy way, by using language, which is directly referred to religion. The poet of A Birthday feels that her love is superior to all others and this is represented with words that illustrate status. This poem is captivating due to its use of representative language. I admire the way in which Rossetti describes her love as being luxurious as that is how many people feel whilst in love.
