Read this poem, and then answer the question that follows it:

A Birthday

My heart is like a singing bird
Whose nest is in a watered shoot;
My heart is like an apple-tree
Whose boughs are bent with thickset fruit;
My heart is like a rainbow shell
That paddles in a halcyon sea;
My heart is gladder than all these
Because my love is come to me.

Raise me a dais of silk and down;
Hang it with vair and purple dyes;
Carve it in doves and pomegranates,
And peacocks with a hundred eyes;
Work it in gold and silver grapes,
In leaves and silver fleurs-de-lys;
Because the birthday of my life
Is come, my love is come to me.

(by Christina Rossetti)
5
10
15

Q: What topic does this question test?

This question tests Poetry in O-Level Literature in English (syllabus code 2010). It is worth 25 marks.

Q: Which exam paper is this question from?

This question appeared in the Cambridge O-Level Literature in English May/June 2014 examination, Paper 1 Variant 2 (2010_s14_qp_12.pdf).

Question

Read this poem, and then answer the question that follows it:

A Birthday

My heart is like a singing bird
Whose nest is in a watered shoot;
My heart is like an apple-tree
Whose boughs are bent with thickset fruit;
My heart is like a rainbow shell
That paddles in a halcyon sea;
My heart is gladder than all these
Because my love is come to me.

Raise me a dais of silk and down;
Hang it with vair and purple dyes;
Carve it in doves and pomegranates,
And peacocks with a hundred eyes;
Work it in gold and silver grapes,
In leaves and silver fleurs-de-lys;
Because the birthday of my life
Is come, my love is come to me.

(by Christina Rossetti)
5
10
15

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