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learning about vivisection, the practice of dissect-
ing living animals for physiological research, she
became an ardent antivivisectionist.

Women and Society
Despite her status in society and her popular-
ity as a poet, Rossetti faced disadvantages as a
woman artist. Although she had ambitions and ap-
parently desired fame, she was constricted by the
social taboo on women “displaying” themselves
publicly. Even after publishing some well-received
poems in magazines, she was unable to find a pub-
lisher for her first book and had to rely on her
brother’s assistance. Like other women writers,
Rossetti was expected to limit her subjects to mat-
ters suitable for women. “A Birthday,” like many
of her lyric poems, was considered acceptable be-
cause it dealt with love, an approved theme.
Because of Rossetti’s acceptance of these re-
strictions on women, modern readers may view her
work with some reservations. However, she was
rebellious in her own terms. She did not always
bow to her brother’s advice on artistic matters, and
she resisted efforts by her publisher to have her
simply continue writing on themes that had been
well received by the public.

Science and Religion
During the Victorian Era, many people became
less fervent in their religious beliefs. Part of the
cause was the development of science, which chal-
lenged some fundamental religious teachings about
life. Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species,a
treatise on evolution published in 1859, helped in-
fluence this change. Rossetti, however, remained a
deeply devout Anglo-Catholic (as opposed to a Ro-
man Catholic) throughout her life. She believed that

each person could have a direct relation with God,

and thus had a duty to speak to Him.

Critical Overview.

Christina Rossetti’s work attracted many admirers

during her time. After the 1890 publication of

Poems,which contains “A Birthday,” many critics

remarked upon the spirited yet controlled pathos of

the poem. Writing in 1896, Edward Gosse argues

that “there is not a chord of a minor key in ’A Birth-

day,’ and yet the impression which its cumulative

ecstasy leaves upon the nerves is almost pathetic.”

He comments that few poets share Rossetti’s “rare

gift of song writing.” Like other critics, he notes

that the love poem is one of Rossetti’s few “jubi-

lant” ones. In an 1893 essay, Katherine Hinkson

agrees that “Miss Rossetti’s poetry has always been

... melancholy with the half sweet trouble of a

young imagination.” Yet she argues that a melan-

choly spirit does not “always have to be sad.” In

“A Birthday,” Hinkson writes, Rossetti shows an

imagination “full of joy.” It is this scope that com-

pels Hinkson to place Rossetti’s work at the pin-

nacle of Victorian literature: “As a mere personal

judgment, I should rank the poetry of no other liv-

ing poet beside Miss Rossetti’s.” More modern crit-

ics as well have noted the dualities in Rossetti’s

work. Theo Dombrowski, writing in 1976, com-

ments that Rossetti’s poems try to “resolve or con-

trol an underlying tension” by examining the “de-

structive conflict of opposites.” As an example, he

cites “A Birthday,” “where the comparatively sub-

tle shift from the inward-looking first stanza ... to

the imperative stance of the second ... is central to

the success of the poem.”

A Birthday

Compare

&

Contrast

• 1867:Women’s suffrage societies are formed in
  England and the United States.
  Early 1970s:A new wave of feminism and
  women’s movement begins. One outcome is a

renewed interest in literature by women.

1980s:The rise of feminist literary criticism

contributes to an increase in scholarly studies of

Rosetti’s poetry and prose.