Christina Rossetti: Remember Flashcards
Who was Christina Rossetti’s fiancé at the time of writing this poem? Why do some critics believe the poem could be written about their relationship?
Remember was written in 1849, when Rossetti was still engaged to her first suitor, James Collinson. Collinson was said to be controlling of Rossetti, linking to some aspects of this poem- allegedly, Rossetti’s mother and sister despised Collinson and did not approve of the relationship.
How can the phrase “silent land” be related to Song: When I am Dead, My Dearest?
“Silent land” could be related to the “twilight” Rossetti writes about in Song; both could refer to the Anglican belief in soul sleep, where the body loses all earthly senses and enters a dream-like state after death.
How could it be argued that the loved one the poem is addressed to seems controlling over the speaker?
Rossetti includes two lines from the poem: “when you can no more hold me by the hand” and “you tell me of our future that you planned”. The use of pronouns in both lines are significant- it is clear that the loved one takes a more dominant role in the relationship, holding the speaker’s hand and planning their future together. Ostensibly this could be seen as a sign of affection but it also has darker undertones, suggesting the lover was manipulative and coercive.
“Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay” could be a reference to the mythical story of which couple?
Orpheus and Eurydice.
Orpheus tried to save his dead wife, Eurydice, from the underworld, and was granted permission by Hades (god of the underworld) on one condition- that he did not turn to look back at Eurydice until he was back in the mortal world. However, just as they were leaving Orpheus turned to look at Eurydice which broke the promise and doomed her to a final death, in which the lovers could no longer communicate.
What is the form of this poem?
The poem is written as a Petrarchan sonnet. The structure of a traditional Petrarchan sonnet is mirrored in the poem, which is made of an octave and sestet with a volta in the final stanza, signified by Rossetti’s use of ‘yet’. The volta marks a significant turning point in the speaker’s view, as they move from desperation to be remembered to acknowledging that it is better for their loved one to move on with their lives and be happy, than it is for them to grieve over their loss of the speaker.
How could this speaker be considered unusual if female?
Like the speaker of Song, if female this speaker is unusually authoritative and direct. They include imperatives throughout such as “remember me when I am gone away” and “do not grieve”, which instruct their loved one in an assertive manner.
Complete the critical quotation and name the critic: “women write about death as a _____ for their own _____ ______”
“Women write about death as a metaphor for their own cultural powerlessness”
Sandra Gilbert & Susan Gubar
How can Gilbert and Gubar’s comment that “women write about death as a metaphor for their own cultural powerlessness” be applied to both Remember and Song?
In both poems, death seems to empower the seemingly female speakers; they are released from the social restraints of Victorian Britain and seem to find the idea of entering into a state of nothingness (the “twilight” and “silent land”) preferable to the suffering of life, particularly in Song when the speaker seems to welcome to loss of their earthly senses (“I shall not see the shadows…”)
How could the poem be considered a reflection of Rossetti’s mental state at the time of writing?
In 1849, Dr Charles Hare visited Rossetti after concerns from her family that her mental health was in serious decline. She had visions of things around her (the walls, floor, furniture etc.) moving and said “very odd things” to Hare. In the same year she wrote a poem called “Looking Forward” which like Remember has suicidal undertones: “Sleep, let me sleep, for I am sick of care; Sleep, let me sleep, for my pain wearies me…”
Complete the quotation: “for if the _____ and ______ leave, a ______ of the thoughts that I once had”
What is meant by this?
“For if the darkness and corruption leave, a vestige of the thoughts that I once had”
Here Rossetti seems to highlight the speaker’s suicidal thoughts in life; the “darkness and corruption” could symbolise the speaker’s death and subsequently her lover’s grief, which the speaker worries will leave a trace (“vestige”) of the dark thought she once had. This is the point the speaker decides it would be preferable then for her loved one to forget her, in order to avoid grief and sadness.
