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Christina Rossetti. Remember. Section?. This is one of the poems about death – it goes in that theme. Try and use it in a pairing with Do not go gentle into that good night. maybe you could also find a link to poem at 39 ?. The poet.
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Christina Rossetti Remember
Section? • This is one of the poems about death – it goes in that theme. • Try and use it in a pairing with Do not go gentle into that good night. • maybe you could also find a link to poem at 39?
The poet • from a famous family, her brother dante gabriel was an artist. • She lived a life of illness and must have thought about death. • She was very admired by the victorians and nearly became poet laureate.
The Mood • Firstly imagine the person you love most in your family… • Now imagine they were watching you on your deathbed… • What would you say to them? Would you try to make things better?
Section 1 Remember me when I am gone away, Gone far away into the silent land; When you can no more hold me by the hand, Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay. • The call is for the person left behind to remember the speaker • But it isn’t easy to go
Section 2 Remember me when no more day by day You tell me of our future that you plann'd: Only remember me; you understand It will be late to counsel then or pray. • when they are separated they must remember.
Section 3 Yet if you should forget me for a while And afterwards remember, do not grieve: • But if you do forgot me don’t beat yourself up about it.
Section 4 For if the darkness and corruption leave A vestige of the thoughts that once I had, Better by far you should forget and smile Than that you should remember and be sad. • in the words of tennyson – ‘it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all’
The form • a sonnet… often used as form for love poems (as in shakespeare sonnet 116) • Does that form work for a poem about death though? • Or maybe it isn’t a poem about death at all? • The use of iambic pentameter aids the softness of the rhythm and message that Rossetti is trying to convey.
Form (the difficult bit) • She uses ABBA twice, but then, instead of following the pattern of using CDE twice, she changes it to CDDECE. • Significantly, she deliberately does so, as the meaning of the poem changes in the sestet to the possibility of forgetting and being happy, rather than instructions to remember, which occur in the octet.
Language 1 • Patterns of repetition are an important feature of this sonnet, such as ‘Remember … gone … no more’. • The first ‘Remember me’ is addressed directly to her loved one and although it is an imperative, does not feel in any way imposing or commanding. The personal pronouns signal this is a very personal, emotional poem.
Language 2 • The alliteration of ‘hold me by the hand’ makes clear their relationship and hints at the physical contact that will be lost, coupled with the monosyllables in line three which add an air of finality. The poignant tone is increased here by the allusion to their future, with even the possibility of a wedding ‘that you planned’.
Language 3 • The euphemism for death ‘gone away’ is sadly touching and its power is heightened by the addition of distance ‘gone far’. Rossetti’s metaphor ‘silent land’ portrays a calm, peaceful afterlife and serves to lessen the pain of her departure for him.
