A Birthday

Question 1

Main message

Answer 1

The poet expresses her love towards another person. She’s only alive when her love comes => “the birthday of my life ;Is come, my love is come to me”

Question 2

What type of poem? Effects?

Answer 2

Octave. Makes the poem look more fluid => the reader does not have to pause in reading to switch to the next stanza => makes it easier for the poet to get her point across, as love is usually one of those concepts which is very hard to express onto the reader as it comes in many forms

Question 3

Layout of the poem

Answer 3

Second line intended

Question 4

Punctuation

Answer 4

Full stop only found at the end of every stanza => the poet no longer feels the need to exaggerate anymore after the conclusion to her sentence. Avoid enjambment => more fluid
Lots of semi colons => she wishes to go on and on about her love but can’t due to other limited factors as the semi-colon is used to link two or more independent points together

Question 5

Themes

Answer 5

Nature
Love: Innocence + Fertility
State of feelings

Question 6

Literary techniques

Answer 6

Repetition of “my heart is” => emphasize and describe her love, helps to bring the poem back into focus and display’s the main “objective” to the reader => foundation of poem

Question 7

Word analysis

Answer 7

• “Carve it in doves and pomegranates”. Doves=innocence, similar to how she is trying to display her innocence in her love for this guy. Pomegranates=fertility. Carve= imprint for eternity => last long, mark for eternity
• “Rainbow shell”. 7 different colours represent different feelings. Anger, Enthusiasm, Hope, Purity, Serenity/ the obstacles they’ve been through together
• “Halcyon sea” indicates love is vast and that when you fall in love, all suddenly becomes simple, surreal (in a good way) and calm
• “boughs are bent with thickset fruit”=> feelings so abundant that boughs bent => intense love