Remember Me by Christina Rosetti
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 plann'd:
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.
I. About the Poem
‘Remember’, written by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) when she was still a teenager, is a classic Victorian poem about mourning and remembrance. It was written in 1849 but not published until 1862 when it appeared in Rossetti’s first volume, Goblin Market and Other Poems. Here is the poem, along with a few words by way of analysis.
Works Cited （参考文献）
https://interestingliterature.com/2016/01/25/a-short-analysis-of-christina-rossettis-remember/
II. About the Author
On December 5, 1830, Christina Rossetti was born in London, one of four children of Italian parents. Her father was the poet Gabriele Rossetti; her brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti also became a poet and a painter. Rossetti’s first poems were written in 1842 and printed in the private press of her grandfather. In 1850, under the pseudonym Ellen Alleyne, she contributed seven poems to the Pre-Raphaelite journal The Germ, which had been founded by her brother William Michael and his friends.
Rossetti is best known for her ballads and her mystic religious lyrics. Her poetry is marked by symbolism and intense feeling. Rossetti’s best-known work, Goblin Market and Other Poems, was published in 1862. The collection established Rossetti as a significant voice in Victorian poetry. The Prince’s Progress and Other Poems, appeared in 1866 followed by Sing-Song, a collection of verse for children, in 1872 (with illustrations by Arthur Hughes).
By the 1880s, recurrent bouts of Graves’ disease, a thyroid disorder, made Rossetti an invalid, and ended her attempts to work as a governess. While the illness restricted her social life, she continued to write poems. Among her later works are A Pageant and Other Poems (1881), and The Face of the Deep (1892). Rossetti also wrote religious prose works, such as Seek and Find (1879), Called To Be Saints(1881) and The Face of the Deep (1892). In 1891, Rossetti developed cancer, of which she died in London on December 29, 1894. Rossetti’s brother, William Michael, edited her collected works in 1904, but the Complete Poems were not published before 1979.
Christina Rossetti is increasingly being reconsidered a major Victorian poet. She has been compared to Emily Dickinson but the similarity is more in the choice of spiritual topics than in poetic approach, Rossetti’s poetry being one of intense feelings, her technique refined within the forms established in her time.
Works Cited （参考文献）
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/christina-rossetti
IV. My Reaction
A. Reaction Point - Rhyme (韻）
- This poem use rhyme. Rhyme mean the repetition of sounds at the ends of words.
- For example, 'land' and 'hand', 'stay' and 'away',' grieve' and 'leave'.
- These rhyme make a deep impression on the reader.
B. Reaction Point - Theme (主題）
- Theme mean the central idea of a work of literature.
- This poem theme is 'Remember' no matter when, no matter where because this poem use 'remember' over and over again.
- I think the writer want to remember her if she goes away.
C. Reaction Point - Character (登場人物）
- Character mean a fictional personality created by an author.
- For example, I think there are two person, 'I (author)'and 'you' in this poem.
- 'You' in this poem is important person for author.
D. My General Opinion
I like this poem because I was impressed by how deeply the author thinks of 'you'.I think she wants to remember whatever happens. This poem makes readers feel painful.
