Poem Review
Last week I read and memorized a beautiful poem by Christina Rossetti:
A Birthday
My heart is like a singing bird
Whose nest is in a water'd shoot;
My heart is like an apple-tree
Whose boughs are bent with thickset fruit;
My heart is like a rainbow shell
That paddles in a halcyon sea;
My heart is gladder than all these
Because my love is come to me.
Raise me a dais of silk and down;
Hang it with vair and purple dyes;
Carve it in doves and pomegranates,
And peacocks with a hundred eyes;
Work it in gold and silver grapes,
In leaves and silver fleurs-de-lys;
Because the birthday of my life
Is come, my love is come to me.
In this poem, Christina Rossetti used such clever rhymes to describe how she felt about this one certain birthday. She used very descriptive words and used them in such an incredible way. I felt really accomplished after I memorized this poem because I feel that this poem really comes from the heart and it shows how someone feels about someone or something else. This poem can be interpreted in many ways as well and that is what I find most interesting. It makes me really think and wonder how her heart is connected to all of the ways she is describing it. A Birthday is a very happy poem and it kind of reminds me about all the beautiful things she is mentioning in the poem. It makes me actually notice how pretty and happy the singing bird is and how intricate the apple tree is with its “boughs bent with thickest fruit.” She also mentions that her love has come to her, so she might have been talking about someone she loved coming to one of her birthdays. This poem has so many interesting parts and now I am more willing to read more of Christina Rossetti’s work.
