Christina Rossetti

1
Christina Rossetti

• Remember

2
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?

3
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.

4
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?

5
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 isnt easy to go

6
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.

7
Section 3

• Yet if you should forget me for a while And
  afterwards remember, do not grieve 
• But if you do forgot me dont beat yourself up
  about it.

8
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

9
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 isnt 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.

10
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.

11
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.

12
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.

13
Language 3

• The euphemism for death gone away is sadly
  touching and its power is heightened by the
  addition of distance gone far. Rossettis
  metaphor silent land portrays a calm, peaceful
  afterlife and serves to lessen the pain of her
  departure for him.