Remember - Christina Rosetti ( 1830-1894 )
Rossetti context:
● High victorian - similar social milia as Chopin and social circles
● Petrachian sonnet - italian due to her heritage
● Part of the pre raphaelite brotherhood
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.
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.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
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.
Poetry analysis:
● ‘’Silent land’ / ‘remember me when i am gone away, [...] when you can no more hold
me by the hand’ - powerful in its simplicity and no doubt, iambics sense of certainty
and control, peaceful not heaven or hell and away from religious constructs,
anadiplosis - repetition and rhetorical device to reinforce the emphasis of her leaving
and definite and certain / refuge from torture of her mind - slight connotations of war
with land being teritory and enforceful
● ‘Yet if you should forget me for a while And afterwards remember, do not grieve’ -
Volta flip “yet”, sense of transition into acceptance of being forgotten, Direct address
of “you”, Repetition of fricative and soft “f’s” create sense of intimacy and affection,
as if there is a sense of comfort in death, “Should” feels humble and indirect, Colon
after grieve - sense of serene certainty and clarity, She is asking for so little
● “Remember me when no more day by day/ You tell me of our future that you
planned” Direct address of “you”, Future will never happen, but the speaker is
somewhat accepting of this. Fear and desperation in this sense of being removed from
society
Poetry context
Rossetti context:
● High victorian - similar social milia as Chopin and social circles
● Petrachian sonnet - italian due to her heritage
● Part of the pre raphaelite brotherhood
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.
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.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
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.
Poetry analysis:
● ‘’Silent land’ / ‘remember me when i am gone away, [...] when you can no more hold
me by the hand’ - powerful in its simplicity and no doubt, iambics sense of certainty
and control, peaceful not heaven or hell and away from religious constructs,
anadiplosis - repetition and rhetorical device to reinforce the emphasis of her leaving
and definite and certain / refuge from torture of her mind - slight connotations of war
with land being teritory and enforceful
● ‘Yet if you should forget me for a while And afterwards remember, do not grieve’ -
Volta flip “yet”, sense of transition into acceptance of being forgotten, Direct address
of “you”, Repetition of fricative and soft “f’s” create sense of intimacy and affection,
as if there is a sense of comfort in death, “Should” feels humble and indirect, Colon
after grieve - sense of serene certainty and clarity, She is asking for so little
● “Remember me when no more day by day/ You tell me of our future that you
planned” Direct address of “you”, Future will never happen, but the speaker is
somewhat accepting of this. Fear and desperation in this sense of being removed from
society
Poetry context
