Discardment

• Remember


  An instruction/command
• Gone away


  Euphemism (nice) for died
• Silent land


  Euphemism for afterlife
• Half turn to go yet turning stay

  Do not want to leave completely (struggle with choice)
• Remember me; you understand


  Does not want to be forgotten
• Late to counsel then or pray

  Nothing can be done to make speaker return
• Yet if you should forget me for a while


  Comfort & permission to grieve, move on
• For if the darkness and corruption leave


  Prefers that she be forgotten and loved ones move on
• Rossetti wrote this as a teenager
• Petrarchan sonnet


  • ABBA ABBA octave (lines 1-8)
  • CDE CDE sestet (lines 9-14)
  • Volta refers to shift of mood/change in argument between the octave and sestet
• Tone


  The author/speaker's attitude on the subject
• Mood


  The emotion the reader feels from a piece of literature
• Octave focuses on death, sad, mournful, remembering relationship, painful parting and the physical distance, hopelessness feeling of no future, speaker does not want to be forgotten, sense of urgency – time is running out to say what's needed
• Sestet does not want loved ones to suffer through remembering, prefers that she be forgotten and loved ones move on
• The title


  Possibly tells us the poem will deal with the idea of remembering
• Remember me when I am gone away


  The speaker is using apostrophe to address her beloved who is not there
• The poem


  • It is about how we remember and mourn a loved one after their passing
• Rosetti wrote this poem when she was 19, but it was only published 13 years later in her first bundle of poetry
• Lines 1-2


  • Emphasises distance between living and dead: "I am gone away" (line 1) to "Gone far away" (line 2). Euphemism: "silent land" for the afterlife. It might be "silent" because it is peaceful/calm/ devoid of daily noise of life or it could emphasise that the lovers will no longer be able to communicate.
• Lines 5-6


  • Repeats request to be remembered daily ("day by day") when they have "no more" time to speak about future plans. Shows depth of their relationship.
• Line 1


  • Imperative statement/ demand
• Line 3


  • The lovers will "no more hold... hand[s]". Provides details about the nature of their relationship: intimate, supportive, guiding
• Line 4


  • She is unable to "stay" after she has "half turn[ed] to go" into the afterlife. The inevitability of death. Tone of reluctance and again emphasises the nature of their relationship: something valuable and deeply wanted.
• Line 7


  • The "[o]nly" thing the speaker wants is to be remembered. Tone more urgent or even desperate as she insinuates that nothing else will be possible after her death.
• Line 8


  • There will be nothing left to do after her death like seeking "counsel" or "pray[ing]" because "[i]t will be too late". Seems to have accepted her fate and come to terms with the inevitability of her death.
• Lines 9-10


  • Admits that it is possible that the beloved might "forget [her] for a while". Replaces "remember" with "forget". More reasonable: beloved will not be able to mourn her all the time, but might "forget" her every now and again "for a while".
• Lines 10-12


  • After forgetting her for a while, he will remember her again. Comforts the beloved by telling him not to grieve and feel guilty if he does move through the grieving and healing process. Hopes her illness, the "darkness" and whatever "corrupt[ed]" her body will "leave" when she dies and only leave remnants or fractions of the wishes and "thoughts" that she "once... had".
• Lines 13-14


  • Explains why she is changing her mind by saying it is better that the lover "forget[s] [her] and smile" than "remember [her] and be sad". She does not want her beloved to suffer the crippling grief that comes with losing a loved one.
• The speaker shows how much she loves the addressee by giving up her wish to be remembered so her lover will be spared much grief.
• She seems to have accepted her inevitable fate by the end of the poem.
• Tone


  • There is a shift in the speaker's tone from initially coming across as selfish because she wanted to be remembered and for her lover to mourn her. However, now she seems more selfless as she does not wish her beloved to suffer.
• Structure


  • The 14 lines are broken into an octave (8 lines) and a sestet (six lines). The octave sets the scene, including mentioning moments that must be remembered. The sestet introduces a twist. The twist is unexpected as the speaker was adamant in the octave that she wants to be remembered. The rhyme scheme is ABBA ABBA CDD ECE. The structure is appropriate: sonnets often deal with some form of love.
• Subject matter / Theme

  • DEATH/MOURNING. The speaker is using apostrophe to address her beloved who is not there. In the poem, initially, she tells him that she wants to be remembered after her death and she wants for him to mourn her. Later in the poem, however, as signified by the volta, she indicates that she would rather have him forget her and be happy than to remember her and be melancholic as, ultimately, she wants him to be spared the anguish of grief and wishes only happiness for him.
• Intention


  • The poet's intention is to draw attention to the relationship between the speaker and the beloved and to emphasise all that will be lost once she passes away. Characteristic of the sonnet, the speaker indicates how death is the ultimate enemy of love.
• Imagery /symbolism /figurative language

  • Intimate moments like holding hands and talking about their future. Death as a silent land. Illness as darkness/corruption. Image of turning back to say goodbye, wanting to stay. Repetition - in the octave she repeats the phrase "remember me" three times to emphasise her wishes. However, in the sestet, she changes her mind and repeats "forget[ting]" twice, and then "remember[ing]" two more times.
• Feeling/mood


  • Desperation and compassion: imagining dealing with grief when losing a loved one. Melancholic, poignant and nostalgic as the speaker recounts things they did together as lovers and drawing attention to how much is lost after death. By the end of the poem, the mood seems more hopeful that there is a possibility of moving on after experiencing a loss.
• Tone


  • The tone of voice is closely related to the mood in this poem. Initially, the speaker seems melancholic, poignant and nostalgic, but also a little selfish in a way. By the end of the poem her tone seems more accepting, forgiving and considerate as she indicates that she would not want her beloved to suffer continued grief over her death.