Christina Rossettis

“A Birthday” And Kate Chopin?s “The Story Of An Hour” Essay, Research Paper

Christina Rossetti?s poem “A Birthday” and Kate Chopin?s short story “The Story of an Hour” present conflicting attitudes toward love. In particular the speaker in Rossetti?s poem is anticipating and overjoyed by the arrival of her new found love, whereas the character in Chopin?s story, after the initial shock of her new found freedom , was overjoyed by the loss of her love. In the poem and short story several literary elements and techniques were used to convey these different attitudes toward love.

A simile is comparison with one thing described as if it were another, using the words “like” or “as”. In the poem similes are used to portray the joy of the speaker. Example of the joy of the speaker are found in the liens “My heart is like a singing bird”, and “My heart is like a rainbow shell”. In the story a simile is used in expressing the initial shock of the character. The words describing the characters shock are “a sob came up into her throat and shook her, as a child who has cried itself to sleep continues to sob

in it?s dreams”.

Symbolism is the use of an object which represents itself and something beyond itself. A tree is a symbol used in both selections to convey there attitude towards love. In the poem the line “My heart is like an apple tree whose boughs are bent with thickset fruit” shows the happiness of the speaker and the fullness of her heart do to her new love.

In the line “She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all quivering with the new spring life” The symbol of the tree is used to convey a different attitude towards love. It shows the excitement of the character for her rebirth and freedom obtained by the loss of her love.

A character is a fugue who takes part in the action of a literary work. In the two selections the authors use two very different characters in conveying there different attitudes on love. In the poem the character is a young woman who by finding her love dreams of being like a queen at a banquet in a lavishly decorated room. This can be seen in the line “Raise me a dais of silk and down; Hang it with vair and purple dyes”. In the story the character is an young woman who is looking forward to her future with out her love. This can be seen in the lines “She was young with a fair calm face” and “There would be no one to live for in the coming years; she would live for herself”.

The poem and the short story using several literary elements and techniques different attitudes toward love were conveyed to the reader. In particular the speaker in Rossetti?s poem is anticipating and overjoyed by the arrival of her new found love, whereas the character in Chopin?s story, is anticipating the loss of her love and is overjoyed her new found freedom.