Remember

Question 1

What is the structure of this poem

Answer 1

• Petrarchan sonnet (follows traditional rhyme scheme
• The rhyme is on plain, monosyllabic words: ‘land’ and ‘hand’, ‘day’ and ‘pray’.
  —> this simplicity makes it feel both sweet and forceful

Question 2

Repetition of remember

Answer 2

• octave begins with ‘remember me’; its an instruction, gives the poetic voice a sense of authority and power
• however this authority is diminished when we realise that the instruction is repeaters again in line 5,7 forming a refrain
• it makes the speaker seen uncertain or desperate about being heard
• ‘remember’ is repeated 5x in the poem -> underlining the anxiety of the speaker and possibly the sense that remembering may be something that she finds difficult to do

Question 3

What will be lost

Answer 3

• after addressing her believed that she will die she remembers herself in the intimacy between them
• she explains the how it will be impossible when she dies, and that there’ll be no alternative ‘Nor i half turn to go yet turning to stay’
• Lines 3,4,5, contain 3 negatives: ‘no’ ‘Nor’ and ‘no’, underlying the inescapable nature of death and what she’ll lose

Question 4

Hee version of life after death

Answer 4

• ‘For if the darkness and corruption leave A vestige of the thoughts that I once had’
• this is quite unchristian (contrasting her background) death is not imagined as a gateway to heaven, instead it is shown as lacking of light, full of decay and ‘corruption’ creating images of her rotting
• draws attention to her body decaying in the grave
• she hopes her ‘thoughts’ might carry on, perhaps referring to her soul

Question 5

Final two lines of the octave

Answer 5

• reverse the meaning of the octave, changing her mind
• wants her loved one to be happy and not dwell in grief when remembering her.
• These lines juxtapose 2 contradictory phrases: ‘you should forget and smile’ and ‘you should remember and be sad’
• she would sacrifice the lasting memory of her in return for her lover’s contentment
• the simple word ‘smile’ encapsulates the hope she has for the Beloved’s future, contrasting her own expected death decay and eradication from memory