What are the similarities and central ideas in Christina Rossetti's poems "A Birthday" and "Love Came Down At Christmas"?
In "Love Came Down at Christmas," Christina Rossetti praises the divine love that, according to the New Testament, humans could only access after the birth of Jesus Christ. With the line, "Love was born at Christmas," Rossetti equates Jesus Christ with Love. She states that this love should be the key to human existence, and people should consider divine love as the essential quality of being.
The narrator of "A Birthday" expresses her delight about her love's upcoming birthday. The narrator, who most likely voices Rossetti's own views, compares her heart to various things in nature. She uses the images of a songbird, a fruit-laden apple-tree, and a rainbow to express the depth of her love. She asks for an elaborate golden throne carved in wood. She joyfully exclaims that the birthday of her love and her life has arrived.
Both poems celebrate the purity of love and the divine qualities of nature that come from God.
