Pearson Edexcel · A-Level · English Literature

    Course version: 9ET0 · Version from Sept 2015

    Poetry – Section B: Specified Poetry Pre- or Post-1900 – Pre-1900 – The…

    Full specification wording

    Component 3: Poetry – Section B: Specified Poetry Pre- or Post-1900 – Pre-1900 – The Victorian Period – The New Oxford Book of Victorian Verse, editor Christopher Ricks (OUP, 2008): A Birthday

    Christina Rossetti's 'A Birthday' is a two-stanza lyric poem celebrating the arrival of profound love or spiritual awakening.

    Checked against the Pearson Edexcel 9ET0 specification (opens in a new tab) on .

    • Point 11 of 17
    • 4 key terms

    Study notes

    From the checked teaching notes for this specification point.

    The idea

    Christina Rossetti's 'A Birthday' is a two-stanza lyric poem celebrating the arrival of profound love or spiritual awakening. The first stanza uses natural similes ('singing bird', 'apple-tree', 'rainbow shell') to express the speaker's overflowing joy, grounding the emotion in the natural world. The second stanza shifts to imperative commands ('Raise me a dais'), demanding opulent, artificial imagery (silk, down, doves, pomegranates, gold) to construct a monument to this love.

    What earns the marks

    • Analyse the structural shift between the natural similes of stanza one and the imperative, crafted imagery of stanza two.
    • Evaluate the use of anaphora ('My heart is like...') to build a sense of overwhelming, inexpressible joy.
    • Explore the ambiguity of the 'love' that has come, discussing both secular romantic interpretations and Tractarian spiritual readings.
    • Examine the significance of the opulent, almost Orientalist imagery in the second stanza (vair, purple dyes, pomegranates) as a reflection of Victorian aestheticism.

    Common mistakes and how to put them right

    • Assuming the poem is exclusively about romantic love.

      Put it right: Acknowledge the strong possibility of a spiritual or religious interpretation, given Rossetti's devout Anglicanism.

    • Ignoring the structural divide between the stanzas.

      Put it right: Explicitly contrast the organic, natural imagery of the first stanza with the artificial, constructed imagery of the second.

    • Misinterpreting 'birthday' as a literal chronological age milestone.

      Put it right: Explain that 'birthday' functions metaphorically to represent a spiritual rebirth or the beginning of a new life through love.

    Exam tips

    • Compare the sensory natural imagery in 'A Birthday' with other Victorian poems that use nature to reflect internal emotional states.
    • Use the term 'anaphora' when discussing the repetition of 'My heart is like' to show how the speaker struggles to find a single adequate comparison.
    • Link the rich, decorative imagery of the second stanza to the influence of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's visual aesthetics.

    Try the lesson

    The start of the Component 3: Poetry – Section B: Specified Poetry Pre- or Post-1900 – Pre-1900 – The Victorian Period – The New Oxford Book of Victorian Verse, editor Christopher Ricks (OUP, 2008): A Birthday lesson, made from checked teaching notes for this specification point.

    Have a go first

    In the first stanza of Christina Rossetti's 'A Birthday', how does the speaker primarily express the depth of her joy?

    Listen

    Christina Rossetti's 'A Birthday' is a two-stanza lyric poem celebrating the arrival of profound love or spiritual awakening. The first stanza uses natural similes ('singing bird', 'apple-tree', 'rainbow shell') to express the speaker's overflowing joy, grounding the emotion in the natural world. The second stanza shifts to imperative commands ('Raise me a dais'), demanding opulent, artificial imagery (silk, down, doves, pomegranates, gold) to construct a monument to this love. A strong answer earns marks for these points. Analyse the structural shift between the natural similes of stanza one and the imperative, crafted imagery of stanza two. Evaluate the use of anaphora ('My heart is like...') to build a sense of overwhelming, inexpressible joy. Explore the ambiguity of the 'love' that has come, discussing both secular romantic interpretations and Tractarian spiritual readings. Examine the significance of the opulent, almost Orientalist imagery in the second stanza (vair, purple dyes, pomegranates) as a reflection of Victorian aestheticism. A common slip: Assuming the poem is exclusively about romantic love. Instead, acknowledge the strong possibility of a spiritual or religious interpretation, given Rossetti's devout Anglicanism. Exam tip: Compare the sensory natural imagery in 'A Birthday' with other Victorian poems that use nature to reflect internal emotional states.

    See it

    A top-down flowchart. It begins with a node for stanza one's natural similes, leading to the singing bird, apple-tree and rainbow shell, then to overflowing joy grounded in the natural world. From there a node marks the structural shift between the stanzas. This leads to stanza two's imperative commands, then to 'Raise me a dais', then to opulent, artificial imagery (silk, down, doves, pomegranates, gold), and finally to a monument to this love. A separate branch from the structural shift leads to the ambiguity of the love: romantic or divine communion with God.
    It shows how the poem moves from the natural similes of stanza one to the imperative, crafted imagery of stanza two, and the ambiguity of the love that has come.

    Key words

    Say what each word means before you turn the card.

    Spiritual rebirth

    Try answering aloud or in your head before turning the card.

    The natural world vs artifice

    Try answering aloud or in your head before turning the card.

    Overwhelming joy

    Try answering aloud or in your head before turning the card.

    Divine vs romantic love

    Try answering aloud or in your head before turning the card.

    See every definition
    Spiritual rebirth
    The metaphorical meaning of 'birthday', representing the beginning of a new life through love rather than a literal chronological age milestone.
    The natural world vs artifice
    The contrast between the organic, natural similes of the first stanza and the opulent, artificial imagery of the second, which constructs a monument to love.
    Overwhelming joy
    The speaker's overflowing emotion, expressed through natural similes and built by anaphora as a sense of inexpressible joy.
    Divine vs romantic love
    The ambiguity of the 'love' that has come, read either as secular romantic love or as a divine communion with God typical of Victorian religious poetry.

    Label the diagram

    Some boxes have lost their names. Pick the right name for each number.

    The diagram again, with 3 boxes numbered instead of named. A top-down flowchart. It begins with a node for stanza one's natural similes, leading to the singing bird, apple-tree and rainbow shell, then to overflowing joy grounded in the natural world. From there a node marks the structural shift between the stanzas. This leads to stanza two's imperative commands, then to 'Raise me a dais', then to opulent, artificial imagery (silk, down, doves, pomegranates, gold), and finally to a monument to this love. A separate branch from the structural shift leads to the ambiguity of the love: romantic or divine communion with God.

    • 1Box 1

    • 2Box 2

    • 3Box 3

    0 of 3 labelled

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