Either 5
Read this poem, and then answer the question that follows it:

Pipistrelle

Dusk unwinds its spool
among the stems of plum-trees,
subliminal messenger
on the screen of evening,
a night-glance as day cools
on the house-walls.

We love what we can't see,
illegible freehand
fills every inch of the page.
We sit after midnight
till the ashes cool
and the bottle's empty.

This one, in a box, mouse
the size of my thumb in its furs
and sepia webs of silk
a small foreboding,
the psalms of its veins
on bible-paper,

like a rose I spread once in a book
till you could read your future
in the fine print.

(Gillian Clarke)

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

This question appeared in the Cambridge O-Level Literature in English May/June 2018 examination, Paper 1 Variant 2 (2010_s18_qp_12.pdf).

Question

Either 5
Read this poem, and then answer the question that follows it:

Pipistrelle

Dusk unwinds its spool
among the stems of plum-trees,
subliminal messenger
on the screen of evening,
a night-glance as day cools
on the house-walls.

We love what we can't see,
illegible freehand
fills every inch of the page.
We sit after midnight
till the ashes cool
and the bottle's empty.

This one, in a box, mouse
the size of my thumb in its furs
and sepia webs of silk
a small foreboding,
the psalms of its veins
on bible-paper,

like a rose I spread once in a book
till you could read your future
in the fine print.

(Gillian Clarke)

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