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,......

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Title: A Birthday
Approximate Word Count: 537
Approximate Pages: 3 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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