Remember

Question 1

What is the form of Remember?

Answer 1

It is a pertrachen sonnet, meaning that it has an octave and a sestet with a Volta on line 9

Question 2

What is Remember about?

Answer 2

From the point of view of a woman on her death bed who, in the first octave, wants to be remembered by her partner when she dies, but after the volt she cahnges her mind and decides that she doesn’t want to be remembered if it would cause him too much pain.
It was written when Rossetti was 19 and very sick.
It displays altruistic (selfless) love.
It has a purposeful yet dismal tone as she knows that she isn’t going to be the only one who suffers

Question 3

Why is ‘remember’ repeated at the start of every fifth line?

Answer 3

It gives the allusion that the poem is split into fifths but is then cut short as the poem only has 14 lines. Mimics her life being cut short

Question 4

Why has Rossetti made the speaker so imperative?

Answer 4

The title itself is an imperative and it would have been surprising for a Victorian reader to be forceful and in charge. She wants to take charge and take control of her uncontrollable situation.
This imperative language drops off though after the Volta as she realises that she is unable to control what will come next
Implies that the only way that a Victorian woman is going to get control over her partner is through death. The speaker is giving up her control of being in his head when she is god in order to spare his suffering, selfless and powerless.
Modern reader - would a man do the same for a woman? They always want a sense of control over their woman

Question 5

What is the rhyme and Rhythm of Remember?

Answer 5

• ABBA envelope rhyme in first octave, which has a focus on the interior lines. In the sestet irregular rhyme CAABCB and dotted internal rhymes. This emphasises her confusion and what to do and her loss of control and structure that she so desperately wanted. Disjointed thoughts, sense of time running out and panic
• iambic pentameter with trochees which emphasis her physically and emotionally being unable to speak.

Question 6

‘Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;’

Answer 6

• first word is the repetition of the title, emphasises her want for female power and control and her desperation
• the use of ‘me’ and ‘I’ puts herself as the object and the subject, wanting to take charge and feel like she is going to live on
• the repetition of ‘gone’, monosyllabic and blunt, a harsh thing to come to terms with. Reminding him or herself?
• ‘silent land’ doesn’t imply that there is an afterlife she has little hope of faith. No communication, eeriness to silence. Women were always silenced though - why she has come to terms with it?
• ends with ‘;’ to help the partner and herself realise the blunt facts, she knows her death is imminent.
• later on ‘away’ will rhyme with stay with ‘stay’ which are two juxtaposing things but she is so desperately wanted to tie them together and for her to stay in his memory

Question 7

‘Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you planned:’

Answer 7

• repetition of ‘you’ emphasises a victorian woman’s lack of choice. She is the object to be remembered. Her death could symbolise her meaningless and lack of impact that she had on the world around her so she stresses that she wants to be remembered so that she could actually know that she made somewhat of an impact (and then she accepts that she didn’t and says that he shouldn’t bother remembering her)
• he has ‘planned’ so he still has a sense of control, he should live on and make more of an impact than she did.

Question 8

‘Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.’

Answer 8

• ‘only’ is a trochee, she is emphasising her next point. Disrupts ‘remember’ being at the start of the line, his life is being disrupted by her death and her plans and dreams are disrupted.
• ‘only remember me;’ are three simple blunt words that end on a pause. Simple ask but she is so insistent. Her impact and power means so much to her. The ; is in the middle of the line which adds to the disruption she will cause
• ‘pray’ links back to the first rhyme. Full circle, finality, bluntness. Biblical references but she doesn’t refer to an afterlife, doubting her beliefs but allowing him to still have faith. She envies his faith.
• ends in ‘.’ Allowing her to stop and think before she changes her mind

Question 9

‘Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:’

Answer 9

• ‘yet’ Volta. Trochee and somewhat syllogistic, still wanting control
• internal rhyme of ‘yet’ and ‘forget’, confusion and panic, time running out
• ‘remember’ should be at the start to follow the 5 line pattern - signifies how she doesn’t want the memories for her to disrupt his life.
• ‘do not grieve:’ is monosyllabic and simple. Victorian people have seen enough death so know what to expect
• ‘:’ reminds us of death being the end. ‘Grieve’ at the end of the line that it is her death that parts them, not lack of love

Question 10

‘For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once i had,’

Answer 10

• ‘darkness and corruption’ reminds of the darkness of death and the physical corruption and rotting of the body. More melancholy view of death than the first octave, she has accepted her fate. Also his dark thoughts and bad memories of her corrupting his view of her.
• ‘vestige’ (small part) emphasises how little impact she made in life because of how young she was but also being a Victorian woman
  She wants him to relish the happiness of life, not grieve

Question 11

‘Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should member and be sad.’

Answer 11

• ‘better by far’ all stresses, spondees. More forceful, trying to persuade herself?
• repetition of ‘should’ implies a lack of certainty as she is edging closer to her death. Less sure and imperative than the first octave.
• ‘and be sad’ is a simple monosyllabic ending and is the simple meaning of life if you boil it down, she regrets not being happier and relishing life so only wants her partner to do the same
• ends in a blunt ‘.’ Finish, end of her life and end of their love. Reminder that death is final and there is no afterlife, she doubts that they will be together in death ‘till death do us part’