1a. What requests does the speaker make in stanza 1?
2a. What words describe the speaker and her suitor in lines 9–11?
3a. What might happen if the speaker and her suitor made promises?
4a. Analyze the speaker's reasons for not pursuing this relationship.
5a. What kind of relationship does the speaker want? What else does she seem to value in her life?
1b. Why does the speaker want to act this way?
2b. What do these words suggest about their relationship?
3b. Do you think the speaker and her suitor can "be the friends [they] were"? Explain.
4b. Imagine what might happen if the speaker gave in and made promises with her suitor.
5b. Explain how individuality or independence can coexist with a close relationship.
Metaphor and Simile. In what ways are promises like pie crust? What does the speaker mean by, "Let us hold the die uncast"? by "Many thrive on frugal fare / Who would perish of excess"?
1a. To what three things does the speaker compare her heart?
2a. What has come to the speaker?
3a. What "birthday" does the speaker have?
4a. Analyze the images the speaker uses in lines 9–14. What do these things have in common?
5a. Judge whether the speaker is able to express her feelings adequately.
1b. What do these comparisons suggest about the speaker's feelings?
2b. How does this make the speaker feel?
3b. In what way has the speaker been reborn?
4b. How do the images used in stanza 2 contrast with those in stanza 1? Why do you think Rossetti used this contrast?
5b. Contrast these feelings to the feelings expressed in "Promises Like Pie-Crust."
Parallelism. What examples of parallelism can you find in stanza 1?
Alliteration. Identify six examples of alliteration in this poem.
1. Think about something you want to do. Write a promise to yourself or to someone else that you will do it.
2. Choose a time when you had very strong emotions. Write a poem about this time. Use similes to express your feelings. Use your own paper as necessary.
3. Write a comparison-and-contrast essay about the themes of Rossetti's "A Birthday" and Browning's Sonnet 43 on page 829.
Verbals. Find the participles, gerunds, and infinitives in the following lines from Rossetti's poems.
1. The wind has such a rainy sound Moaning through the town,
2. But when the leaves hang trembling The wind is passing through.
3. Not wan with waiting, not with sorrow dim;
4. Let us hold the die uncast, Free to come as free to go:
5. If I promised, I believe I should fret to break the chain.
