A Birthday (Christina Rossetti)

Today was my first day at my new job (sort of, just training), so I was looking for a poem about jobs or first days. Wasn't able to locate one and though Adam's Task would have been perfect, I have already talked about it. I kept browsing though and I found this short poem by Cristina Rossetti.

Normally, I like more modern sounding poetry and themes, but I really admire Rossetti's poetry and her talent. For instance, this poem creates a new definition for birthday in two short stanzas. And not only that, but she manages to have rhythmic lines that are uniform in meter. Pretty nifty.

And pretty nifty for me that I was able to see that it was uniform. I always seem to have trouble seeing meter. I just don't hear soft and strong syllables well. Maybe I like her poetry because it is so regular and I can learn from it and gain greater skills at scansion.

Favorite line: "My heart is like an apple-tree/Whose boughs are bent with thick-set fruit"