There is alliteration found in verse two, “rivulets rise and run”. When you say those words, you can image a stream following along. This stream is displaying the misery of Landon and showing how it is endless just like the stream.
In verse three there is more imagery of nature e.g. “beehives wake and whirr”. This is another example of alliteration. These two examples show that Browning wants to create an effect on you i.e. that she wants the reader to feel pity for Landon.
In verse three there is a lot of examples of active verbs e.g. “rabbit thins his fur”. In this verse you can imagine of the activity of animals. This is contrasting Landon’s lack of love. There is no activity in her heart. Letitia E. Landon feels dead, excluded from the happiness of everyone else. At this point the reader feels sorrow and pity for Landon
When she say’s, “in living spring that sets the world astir”, it can be understood that the pressure of pretending to be happy and joyful is getting to her. It is very hard for Letitia to continue her life lying to everyone when she feels broken up inside.
In verse four there is an imagery of riches. Landon uses wealth to create a barrier between her private life and the public eye. It describles that she “decks herself with silks and jewery” when really she feels poor inside.
It continues, “I plume myself like any mated dove”. Here another contrast can be found of Landon’s feelings of depression and rejection.
In this verse there is also a natural image “sprouts green lavender”. Here is another description of springtime happening. This activity is missing from her life. This poem is tragic as it describles how Landon can’t enjot the wonderful events of spring as her pain is too great.
In verses five and six we move onto images of heaven e.g. “saints and angels”. These two verses are very closely linked together. In these verses Browning does not pretend to be Landon. She talks about her, “Her heart is breaking for a little love”.
In verse five we learn that she has died. We learn that through dying she has found her peace. In these two verses there is a sense of repose and that at last Landon has found her true springtime, “new spring builds new heaven”.
There are some rhyming patterns in the poem. In the poem there are six verses and seven lines in each of them. The seven lines I think represent the seven days of the week. For Letitia E. Landon, the seven days were a meaningless routine when she was alive. Her life had turned into monotony.
In verses one and two, Browning used the identical rhyming scheme. The last three lines in both verses rhyme. There was repetition which gave the effect that her life was going on and on.
In verse two there was an alliteration, “rivulets rise and run”. This gave an effect on the reader. I think that it made the reader feel pity on Landon.
In verses three and four the last word in both of the last lines is repeated, “astir”. This gave a sense that Landon’s life was going nowhere new.
In verses three-six, Browning used the identical rhyming scheme symbolising the lack of difference of Landon’s daily routine e.g. “dove, move, prove” etc.
In each of the six verses, the fourth line is the same with slight variation in each, “My love is breaking for a little love”. This is a constant reminder of her pain and suffering throughout the poem.
In the poem there are many tactile images, “rabbit thins his fur”. The fur could be used to contrast it to Landon’s frozen heart. Fur can be seen as being warm and secure, which Landon clearly isn’t.
There are also images of olfactory e.g. “sprout green lavender with rosemary and myrrh”. The myrrh is a sweet smelling plant but in Letitia E. Landon’s life, she was unable to smell anything pretty or sweet because she was too depressed.
There are also images of sound, “beehives wake and whirr”. This is onomatopoeic and highlights the fact that Letitia E. Landon felt that she had nothing to wake up for in the morning.
The next poem is called, ‘A Birthday’, by Christina Rossetti. She like Elizabeth Barnett Browning, wrote her poem during the Victorian period. In contrast however, her poem is about ‘happy love’. The title ‘A Birthday’ is appropriate for this poem as everyday since she found her love it has been a day of celebration like when you have your birthday.
The main difference in this poem is that Rossetti has found love. It has not destroyed her life but infact it has made it better.
Springtime is also a predominal image in this poem but however this time it is used to express how wonderful she thinks love is. Nature in this poem reflects her mood.
In the poem there are two verses with eught lines in each. It is a lot shorter than ‘L.E.L.’, but I feel that the poem is sufficient in length as not as much energy and cheerfulness would have been produced once read.
The verses are evenly balanced showing that they are meaningful and harmonious.
In the first verse there are four similes. They all start off with, “My heart is…”. The first one reads, “my heart is like a singing bird whose nest is in a watered shoot”. In the previous poem Letitia E. Landon was excluded from the rest of society but in this poem Christina Rossetti is comparing it to a bird (like her love) that is safe and secure in the nest in a watered young tree. The water in this statement is symbolising that Rossetti love is pure.
The second simile, “My heart is like an apple tree whose boughs are bent with thickset fruit”. In this statement she is trying to say that she is full of love, maybe even over-streaming with it in her heart. In contrast Landon felt no love at all.
The third simile, “My heart is like a rainbow shell that paddles in a halcy on sea”. The rainbow is colourful and bright and I think that Rossetti used this to describe how amazing love has made her feel. In comparison, Landon felt dried up and dead. The calm sea in this statement also can portray her feeling of love and how it is tranquil and peaceful.
The last simile, “My heart is gladder then all of these because my love has come to come to me”. The last simile implies that to Rossetti love is greater then all the above describltions and even better.
In verse one there images of nature e.g. “singing bird”, “apple-tree”, “rainbow” and “sea” etc. In contrast to ‘L.E.L.’, nature is used to portray love as being exquisite and beautiful, not making somebody feel depressed and miserable.
In verse two the images are of luxuries and exotic things. This time however the poet does not hide behide her wealth but uses it to get notice. She uses it to get attention to boast about her love. She says that she wants to be “rose upon a platform of silk. Hang it with fur and purple dyes. I think that Rossetti used silk and fur to represent the wealth that she has gained from her love. And the colour purple shows the royalty that love has impressed on her. All that she really wants is to be centre of attention as you would when it is your ‘birthday’.
“Carve it in doves… And peacocks with a hundred eyes”. Here she uses beautiful animals to portray how attractive love has made her feel. Again this differs greatly with Letitia E. Landon who felt that love was cruel and horrible.
“Work it in gold and silver grapes”. This is another imagery of wealth, which suggest that love has made her physically and emotionally richer.
“In leaves and silver fleurs-de-lys”, this symbolises beauty and dignity.
Finally the last two lines, “Because the birthday of my life … come to me”, this sums up everything that the poet feels about love. This is why the title of the poem is ‘A Birthday’. She is celebrating he love and since her love, everyday has been a celebration like her birthday.
In this poem, Christian Rossetti enjoys each day and wishes that it could be longer whereas in ‘L.E.L.’ she felt that each day was a meaningless routine.
I thought that in the first verse the four similes were very effective. They helped the reader to understand that there is a lot of activity in her life.
In this poem there was tactile images e.g. “Raise me a dais of silk”. Silk is a fine but very rich material. This description is a perfect expression of Rossettis’ feeling of love. Also in this poem, there are images of sound, “My heart is like a singing bird”. Most birds when they sing are sweet and cheerful. She is what she describes her heart to be like. There is a lot of happiness in her life. Letitia E. Landon felt all shrinked up and washed out.
Also there are olfactory images in the poem, “Silver fleurs-de-lys”. These are lilies, which smell of the perfume of love. In this poem, Christina Rossettis uses this imagery to brag about her happiness.
She wrote this poem from her heart. It is evident that “love has crowned her life”, and is sincere in everything which she writes.
After studying both poems it was very evident that the two poems contrasted greatly from each other.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poem, ‘L.E.L.’ was about sad love. Letitia E. Landon had fell so low after love had distructed her life that she couldn’t live with the pain. She was driven to suicide.
Letitia E. Landon found her springtime when she died. She was relieved with all the agony and pain that love had caused her.
However ‘A Birthday’ by Christina Rossettis had a more positive attitude to love. Love had made her feel wealthier and spiritually richer. She wished to celebrate her feeling everyday and share it with everyone. It was the reason that she looked forward to living!
Out of the two poems I felt that both poets were very clever in the way they used language and images to display their feelings towards love. Out of the two however I preferred ‘A Birthday’ by Christina Rossettis’, as it was so fragrant and merry. There was no depression or misery mentioned anywhere and I would hope that love would have that effect.
