Remember

By Christina Rossetti
1830-1894
 Remember

What do we understand from the title of the poem?

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 planned:
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.
AO3: Context
 1830-1894
Pre-Raphaelite Christina Rossetti
Rossetti was born in London; her father was a painter and
political exile from Italy and her mother was the sister of
John Polidori, the friend and physician of Lord Byron. Her
brother was Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who founded the Pre-
Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848. She grew up surrounded
by literature and was deeply influenced by Italian writers.

In the 1840s, her fathers physical and mental health

deteriorated, causing financial difficulties for the family.
His suspected tuberculosis meant he gave up his job and
although he lived for another 11 years he suffered from
depression and was never physically well again. When she
was 14, Rossetti herself suffered a nervous breakdown and
bouts of depression and illness followed. Rossetti had
three potential engagements but refused all, two on the
grounds of religious conviction.

Much of her early work focused on death and loss. Her

most famous collection – which featured Remember – was
published when she was 31 and she became the foremost
female poet of her time. She died of breast cancer in 1894.
The Pre-Raphaelites
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was formed in 1848, initially
of seven members but with other male and female artists,
poets and critics eventually sharing their philosophy.

The group's intention was to reform art. They objected to the

classical poses and elegant compositions of Raphael (hence
Pre-Raphaelite) and sought a return to abundant detail,
intense colours and complex compositions of 15th century
Italian art. Rossetti (brother of Christina) in particular wanted
to make links between Romantic poetry and art, reflecting the
movement’s commitment to imitation of nature as central to
the purpose of art. They believed that art was essentially
spiritual in nature.

They met with much controversy, including the condemnation

of Charles Dickens over one particular painting.

Their work put atmosphere and mood before narrative,

focusing on medieval subjects, artistic introspection, female
beauty, sexual yearning and altered states of consciousness.
They helped to popularise the notion of ‘art for art’s sake’.
AO2: Language and Imagery
 Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;

The distance between them is

reinforced by the repetition
of ‘gone away’ with the
added adjective ‘far’.

What is the poet saying here?

What is the significance of the metaphor ‘silent land’? What do you think it
represents?
A symbol of death…

‘the silent land’

‘the’ gives it a sense of A spiritual rather than physical

importance, leading to place.
an understanding that
this is heaven.

1. Revelation 14:13 “Then I heard a voice from heaven say, "Write this: Blessed are the
dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes," says the Spirit, "they will rest from their
labour.” – Death is a place of silent rest. Rossetti often presents heaven as a place
where the righteous can rest after their struggles on earth.

2. Wordsworth, Tintern Abbey: “If I should be, where I no more can hear/Thy voice, nor
catch from thy wild eyes these gleams/Of past existence” – Death is a place where we
can no longer communicate with (hear or see) our loved ones.
 When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.

1. A symbol of first love

(holding hands).
2. A physical representation
Repetition of ‘turn’ reinforces that she
of love that will be
cannot turn from death. She cannot
impossible once she is dead.
change her mind and stay.
3. The alliteration softens
the impact of the imperative
‘remember’, creating a more
consoling tone.
What is the poet saying here?
 Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you planned:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.

This future no longer

exists. A sense of loss.

A second imperative – Prayers and counsel are

and third, but softened needed now; it will be too
this time with ‘only’. late after she is dead – he will
What is the effect of only be able to remember.
this?
 Signals the volta, or shift, reinforced by the replacement
of ‘remember’ with ‘forget’

Yet if you should forget me for a while

And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A further A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
softening of
‘remember’ A trace/leftover. What is this referring to?

What is the poet saying here?

What might ‘darkness’ and ‘corruption’ refer to? (Hint: they come very close
after ‘grieve’.)
 For if the darkness and corruption leave The rhyme of
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had, had/sad
Better by far you should forget and smile reinforces the
contrast
Than that you should remember and be sad. between
remembering
Alliteration creates a and forgetting
soothing sound.

‘Remember’ is now directly

contrasted with ‘forget’. It is better
that he does the latter. Why?

What is the poet saying here?

How might the final line be seen as an act of true love or self-sacrifice?
 “Remember”
The word ‘remember’ runs like a refrain throughout the sonnet. Its power seems
to decrease as the sonnet goes on, almost like the speaker is fading or her grip on
the idea of memory decreases.

• Lines 1 and 5: the imperative ‘remember’ is placed at the start of the

line
• Line 7: the word appears in the middle of the line, modified by ‘only’
• Line 10: the middle of the line, ‘and afterwards…’, preceded by
‘forget’ on line 9
• Line 14: towards the end of the line, ‘better you forget’ (line 13) ‘than
that you should remember’ – it here loses its association with ‘me’
AO2: Form / Structure
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 planned:
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.

Can you identify the rhyme scheme?

 A Remember me when I am gone away,
B Gone far away into the silent land;
B When you can no more hold me by the hand,
A Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
A Remember me when no more day by day
B You tell me of our future that you planned:
B Only remember me; you understand
A It will be late to counsel then or pray.
C Yet if you should forget me for a while
D And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
D For if the darkness and corruption leave
E A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
C Better by far you should forget and smile
E Than that you should remember and be sad.

The cyclical nature of this rhyme scheme reflects the The regularity of the iambic
cyclical nature of the poem: things always come back to pentameter reinforces the
where they started. Life –> death –> life after death (in sense of control the speaker
the form of memory). attempts to establish.
 The octave is contemplative
A Remember me when I am gone away, and reconciled to the idea
B Gone far away into the silent land;
of death: she is content to
B When you can no more hold me by the hand,
A Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay. exist in her beloved’s
B Remember me when no more day by day memory. She has not yet,
B You tell me of our future that you planned: however, made peace with
B Only remember me; you understand the idea of being forgotten.
A It will be late to counsel then or pray.
C Yet if you should forget me for a while The volta sees the speaker’s
D And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
tone change: she gives up
D For if the darkness and corruption leave
E A vestige of the thoughts that once I had, the need to be
C Better by far you should forget and smile remembered. The sestet
E Than that you should remember and be sad. sees her wish her beloved
happiness, even if that
Note the internal rhyme of yet/forget drawing means she is forgotten.
attention to the shift of the volta.

The form of a Petrarchan sonnet shows how the speaker sacrifices her
personal desires in an expression of true love. This fits with the Pre-
Raphelite philosophy of acceptance of death and material troubles fading
when compared with the struggles of the mind.
AO4/5: Links and Interpretations
 It is notable that in this poem we hear the voice of a woman. We know that
woman in Victorian society were expected to play a passive role, subject to the
control of dominant men. Think about how this theme has been present in the
other poems we have studied.

With this consideration in mind, we can take an alternative reading of the poem –
that the speaker is possessed and controlled by the unnamed male.
He holds on to her
When you can no more hold me by the hand, possessively
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay. She cannot leave when
she wants to
You tell me of our future that you planned
He talks at her; he is the
It will be late to counsel then or pray one controlling her future

He advises her and controls her

If this is the case, then the ‘darkness and spiritually as well as physically
corruption’ become something more sinister, e.g.
her life, and the ‘vestiges’ of her thoughts
become something that her beloved is better to What does this
ignore, perhaps her resentment. Is this a woman
trying to break free from the control of a man? reading offer us?
Examine the view that Christina Rossetti presents
the speaker in this poem as having a selfless
attitude to love.

Think about:
• The characteristics of love
• The representation of the people involved
• The feelings of the speaker
• Any imagery or language used
• The way the structure and form reflects this

Make sure you cover all the AOs in your answer.

Fill in your CLIFS sheet for
this poem. Remember, this
will be a revision aid!