This poem is a more traditional choice by Christina Rossetti. "A Birthday" suggests the incredible joy of finding the one that you love.
             It could even be appropriate for those who are marrying on their birthday, something which has always been popular.
             In the poem she uses two images to suggest her joy. In the first verse she compares her heart to a number of bright and colourful things that are full of life.
             In the second verse she asks that preparations be made to receive her love, suggesting opulent surroundings decorated with sensual materials.
             Although she is thought of as a somewhat melancholy poet, and indeed much of her writing can be sad, or even morbid by today's standards, she can also express the lighter side of life. Her poem A Birthday is a rapturous expression of delight in love
             Christina Georgina Rossetti was one of the most important women poets writing in nineteenth-century England. She led a very retiring life, interrupted by a recurring illness.
             In this poem Rossetti describes the effects of love on her feelings and a general outlook. She tries to convey a happy feeling and it is worth noting the use of beautiful images for Nature: the singing bird; the apple tree in full fruit; and the rainbow shell on a calm sea.
             The first verse operates through a series of similes with a simple and flowing rhythm and rhyme scheme. The words "my heart" are repeated four times, presumably to bring about emphasis and also to show how important the feelings within her heart are when the one that she most loves is near to her. Her heart is like a "singing bird" in that it is joyous and free and sited in a nest which is growing and full of life. She then compares her heart to the apple tree which is thick with fruit, entirely fulfilled and at its peak. The third simile is comparing her heart with the beautiful colours of nature as the shell "paddles" along on a calm and content sea. She ends the fir
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