1. Duchess Revision
Cardinal: Shall our blood, The royal blood of Aragon and Castile, Be thus attainted? Ferdinand: Apply desperate physic! We must not now use balsamum, but fire, The smarting cupping glass, for that's the mean To purge infected blood, such blood as hers.

2. A Birthday The poem, appeared as part of Rossetti's collection ‘Goblin Market and Other Poems’, is essentially a celebration. Using a variety of Christian symbolism (which became a trademark of Rossetti's writing), its speaker describes the deep peace, joy, and satisfaction of having God in her life. Interestingly, God is not actually named in the poem, which has led some critics to speculate that Rossetti was actually describing some other fellow.

3. What poetic techniques can you spot without my assistance?
Look for a range:
-structure (how the words are arranged on the lines - punctuation)
-metre, (the pattern of syllables and stresses in the lines),
-visual imagery (similes, metaphors, personification)
-word classes,
-form (how the lines of the poem are divided and arranged),
-aural imagery (sounds and patterns of sounds)
-rhyme – how used to place emphasis on certain words – the overall effect of the rhyming on the tone of the poem
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.

4. MY heart is like a singing bird Whose nest is in a water'd shoot;

5. My heart is like an apple-tree Whose boughs are bent with thick-set fruit;

6. My heart is like a rainbow shell That paddles in a halcyon sea;

7. My heart is gladder than all these, Because my love is come to me.

8. Raise me a daïs of silk and down; Hang it with vair and purple dyes;

9. Carve it in doves and pomegranates, And peacocks with a hundred eyes;

10. Work it in gold and silver grapes, In leaves and silver fleurs-de-lys;

11. Because the birthday of my life Is come, my love is come to me.