GRADE 11

TERM 4
2023

POETRY
NOVEMBER EXAMINATIONS

Poem Page

1. To Althea, From Prison – Richard Lovelace 2

2. Sonnet 71 – William Shakespeare 8

3. My Last Duchess – Robert Browning 14 – 15

4. Dulce et Decorum Est – Wilfred Owen 24

5. Assassination – Don L Lee 30

6. Penguin on the beach – Ruth Miller 35

7. Nightsong City – Dennis Brutus 41

8. Portrait of a loaf of bread – Mbuyiseni Oswald Ndlovu 44

9. I have my father’s voice – Chris van Wyk 46

10. Sonnet 104 – William Shakespeare 52

11. The Sun Rising – John Donne 55

12. Go, lovely Rose – Edmund Waller 62

13. Ozymandias of Egypt – Percy Bysshe Shelley 65

14. Remember – Christina Rosetti 71

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 To Althea, From Prison – Richard Lovelace

1 When Love with unconfinèd wings 1

2 Hovers within my Gates,
3 And my divine Althea brings
4 To whisper at the Grates;
5 When I lie tangled in her hair,
6 And fettered to her eye,
7 The Gods that wanton in the Air,
8 Know no such Liberty.

9 When flowing Cups run swiftly round 2

10 With no allaying Thames,
11 Our careless heads with Roses bound,
12 Our hearts with Loyal Flames;
13 When thirsty grief in Wine we steep,
14 When Healths and draughts go free,
15 Fishes that tipple in the Deep
16 Know no such Liberty.

17 When (like committed linnets) I 3

18 With shriller throat shall sing
19 The sweetness, Mercy, Majesty,
20 And glories of my King;
21 When I shall voice aloud how good
22 He is, how Great should be,
23 Enlargèd Winds, that curl the Flood,
24 Know no such Liberty.

25 Stone Walls do not a Prison make, 4

26 Nor Iron bars a Cage;
27 Minds innocent and quiet take
28 That for an Hermitage.
29 If I have freedom in my Love,
30 And in my soul am free,
31 Angels alone that soar above,
32 Enjoy such Liberty.

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 Sonnet 71 – William Shakespeare

1 No longer mourn for me when I am dead 1

2 Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell
3 Give warning to the world that I am fled
4 From this vile world with vilest worms to dwell;
5 Nay, if you read this line, remember not
6 The hand that writ it; for I love you so,
7 That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot,
8 If thinking on me then should make you woe.
9 O, if (I say) you look upon this verse,
10 When I (perhaps) compounded am with clay,
11 Do not so much as my poor name rehearse,
12 But let your love even with my life decay,
13 Lest the wise world should look into your moan,
14 And mock you with me after I am gone.

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 My Last Duchess – Robert Browning

1 That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall, 1

2 Looking as if she were alive. I call
3 That piece a wonder, now; Fra Pandolf’s hands
4 Worked busily a day, and there she stands.
5 Will’t please you sit and look at her? I said
6 “Fra Pandolf” by design, for never read
7 Strangers like you that pictured countenance,
8 The depth and passion of its earnest glance,
9 But to myself they turned (since none puts by
10 The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)
11 And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst,
12 How such a glance came there; so, not the first
13 Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, ’twas not
14 Her husband’s presence only, called that spot
15 Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek; perhaps
16 Fra Pandolf chanced to say, “Her mantle laps
17 Over my lady’s wrist too much,” or “Paint
18 Must never hope to reproduce the faint
19 Half-flush that dies along her throat.” Such stuff
20 Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough
21 For calling up that spot of joy. She had
22 A heart—how shall I say?— too soon made glad,
23 Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er
24 She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.
25 Sir, ’twas all one! My favour at her breast,
26 The dropping of the daylight in the West,
27 The bough of cherries some officious fool
28 Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule
29 She rode with round the terrace—all and each
30 Would draw from her alike the approving speech,
31 Or blush, at least. She thanked men—good! but thanked
32 Somehow—I know not how—as if she ranked
33 My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name
34 With anybody’s gift. Who’d stoop to blame
35 This sort of trifling? Even had you skill
36 In speech—which I have not—to make your will
37 Quite clear to such an one, and say, “Just this
38 Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss,
39 Or there exceed the mark”—and if she let
40 Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set
41 Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse—
42 E’en then would be some stooping; and I choose
43 Never to stoop. Oh, sir, she smiled, no doubt,
44 Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without
45 Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;

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46 Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands
47 As if alive. Will’t please you rise? We’ll meet
48 The company below, then. I repeat,
49 The Count your master’s known munificence
50 Is ample warrant that no just pretense
51 Of mine for dowry will be disallowed;
52 Though his fair daughter’s self, as I avowed
53 At starting, is my object. Nay, we’ll go
54 Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though,
55 Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,
56 Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!

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 Dulce et Decorum Est – Wilfred Owen

1 Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, 1

2 Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
3 Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,
4 And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
5 Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
6 But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
7 Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
8 Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.

9 Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling 2

10 Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
11 But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
12 And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.—
13 Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
14 As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

15 In all my dreams before my helpless sight, 3

16 He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

17 If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace 4

18 Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
19 And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
20 His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
21 If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
22 Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
23 Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
24 Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—
25 My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
26 To children ardent for some desperate glory,
27 The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
28 Pro patria mori.

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 Assassination – Don Lee

1 it was wild. 1
2 the bullet hit high.

3 (the throat-neck)&from everywhere: 2

4 the motel, from under blushes and cars, 3

5 from around corners and across streets,
6 out of the garbage cans and from rat holes
7 in the earth
4
8 they came running.
9 with
10 guns
11 drawn
12 they came running
5
13 toward the King—
6
14 all of them
15 fast and sure—
7
16 as if
17 the King
18 was going to fire back.
19 they came running,
20 fast and sure,
21 in the
22 wrong
23 direction.

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 1. Comment on the effect of the first line.

- The absence of a capital letter at the beginning of the phrase gives the
impression that the opening line is a continuation of a preceding sentence,
drawing the reader into the poem. The term "wild" sets the tone for less
serious
subject matter, heightening the impact of the poem's later events.

- "It" is a neutral term, and we are not sure if it is a male or female event. The
word is imprecise, but the title is "assassination," so the ambiguity adds to the
suspense. "Wild" conjures up images of turmoil, such as a shooting, an
extreme
event with no regulations, mayhem, and anarchy.

2. Describe the tone of the poem, drawing on evidence from the text to
substantiate your response.

The tone is frantic but disjointed and disjointed. Few expressive words are
utilized, and the brief, staccato phrases convey a sense of surprise and
fragmentary events.

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 3. Comment on the effect of the use of the poem have on its tone and subject.

Parentheses are commonly used to indicate important information, but they

are not required. As a result, the use of parenthesis to indicate where the
victim was shot suggests that this information is helpful but not essential to
comprehend the poem.

On the other hand, the poet subverts this goal by indenting the parenthesized
material on its line. This placement emphasizes the surprising information
within the parentheses, which shocks the reader with the event's violence and
terror.

4. Comment on the effect of the ambiguity in the references to <they=

The variable font contributes to the poem's hurried, disjointed tone and the
impression that the events are unfolding in real-time. The lines that are not
aligned add to the assassination's abrupt, fragmented, and perplexing aspect.
We have no way of knowing who these folks are or their goals, and this
ambiguity underlines the chaos that follows the assassination and adds to the
poem's drama.

5. By describing something as <wild= what is the atmosphere?

"Wild" conjures up images of turmoil, such as a shooting, an extreme event

with no regulations, mayhem, and anarchy.

6. Just by looking at the poem, you have a sense of mood. Explain why and
how.

The lines are staggered, and there is no perfect stanza pattern; the lines are all
various lengths. All these elements add to the sense of chaos and
unpredictability.

Single words on lines, random indents, and startling punctuation characterize

the structure. This all adds to the craziness of the situation, which is
understandable given that it involves the horrible death of a peace-loving man.

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 Penguin on the beach – Ruth Miller

1 Stranger in his own element, 1

2 Sea-casualty, the castaway manikin
3 Waddles in his tailored coat-tails. Oil
2
4 Has spread a deep commercial stain
5 Over his downy shirt front. Sleazy, grey, 3
6 It clogs the sleekness. Far too well

7 He must recall the past, to be so cautious:

8 Watch him step into the waves. He shudders 4
9 Under the froth; slides, slips, on the wet sand,

10 Escaping to dryness, dearth, in a white cascade,

11 An involuntary shouldering off of gleam.
12 Hands push him back into the sea. He stands
5
13 In pained and silent expostulation.
14 Once he knew a sunlit, leaping smoothness, 6
15 But close with his head’s small knoll, and dark,

16 He retains the image: Oil on sea, 7

17 Green slicks, black lassoos of sludge
18 Sleeving the breakers in a stain-spread scarf.

19 He shudders now from the clean flinching wave,

20 Turns and plods back up the yellow sand,
21 Ineffably wary, triumphantly sad.

22 He is immensely wise: he trusts nobody.

23 His senses Are clogged with experience.
24 He eats Fish from the Saviour’s hands, and it tastes black.

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 Nightsong: City – Dennis Brutus

1 Sleep well, my love, sleep well: 1

2 the harbour lights glaze over restless docks,
3 police cars cockroach through the tunnel streets;

4 from the shanties creaking iron-sheets 2

5 violence like a bug-infested rag is tossed
6 and fear is imminent as sound in the wind-swung bell;

7 the long day’s anger pants from sand and rocks; 3

8 but for this breathing night at last;
9 my land, my love, sleep well.

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 Portrait of a loaf of bread – Mbuyiseni Oswald Ndlovu

1 Look back to the rolling fields 1

2 Waving golden-topped wheat stalks
3 Mowed by the reaper’s scythe,
4 Bundled into sheaves
5 Carted to the mill
6 And ground into flour.

7 Kneaded into mountains of dough 2

8 To be churned by rollers
9 And spat into pans as red hot
10 As Satan’s cauldron.

11 Brought to the café, 3

12 Warmly wrapped in cellophane,
13 By “East Fresh Bread” bakery van;
14 For the waiting cook to slice and toast
15 To butter and to marmalade
16 For the food-bedecked breakfast table

17 Whilst the laborer

18 With fingers caked with 4
19 Wet cement of a builder’s scaffold
20 Mauls a hunk and cold drink
21 And licks his lips and laughs
22 “Man can live on bread alone.”

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 I Have my Father’s Voice - Chris van Wyk

1 When I walk into a room 1

2 where my father has just been
3 I fill the same spaces he did
4 from the elbows on the table
5 to the head thrown back
6 and when we laugh we aim the guffaw
7 at the same space in the air.
8 Before anybody has told me this I know
9 because I see myself through
10 my father's eyes.

11 When I was a pigeon-toed boy 2

12 my father used his voice
13 to send me to bed
14 to run and buy the newspaper
15 to scribble my way through matric.

16 He also used his voice for harsher things: 3

17 to bluster when we made a noise
18 when the kitchen wasn't cleaned after supper
19 when I was out too late.

20 Late for work, on many mornings, 4

21 one sock in hand, its twin
22 an angry glint in his eyes he flings
23 dirty clothes out of the washing box:
24 vests, jeans, pants and shirts shouting
25 anagrams of fee fo fi fum until he is up
26 to his knees in a stinking heap of laundry.

27 I have my father's voice too 5

28 and his fuming temper
29 and I shout as he does.
30 But I spew the words out 30
31 in pairs of alliteration
32 and an air of assonance.

33 Everything a poet needs 6

34 my father has bequeathed me
35 except the words.

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 Sonnet 104 - To me, fair friend, you never can be old
William Shakespeare

1 To me, fair friend, you never can be old, 1

2 For as you were when first your eye I eyed,
3 Such seems your beauty still. Three winters cold
4 Have from the forests shook three summers’ pride,
5 Three beauteous springs to yellow autumn turned
6 In process of the seasons have I seen,
7 Three April perfumes in three hot Junes burned,
8 Since first I saw you fresh, which yet are green.
9 Ah, yet doth beauty, like a dial-hand,
10 Steal from his figure, and no pace perceived;
11 So your sweet hue, which methinks still doth stand,
12 Hath motion, and mine eye may be deceived:
13 For fear of which, hear this, thou age unbred:
14 Ere you were born was beauty’s summer dead.

Summary

Sonnet 104, ‘To me, fair friend, you never can be old,’ by William
Shakespeare addresses the facts of aging and the possibility that the Fair Youth is
affected just as much as anyone else is.

The poem is addressed to the Fair Youth, who is throughout the text complimented
on his beauty. He seems not to have aged the whole time the speaker has known
him. Over the last three years, he has remained just as fresh and green as when
they first met. But, the speaker acknowledges towards the end, he knows this can’t
be the case. All people age and time moves so slowly that he just can’t see it.
The final two lines are addressed to future generations. He tells them that when they
are alive, the most beautiful person to have ever lived will have already died.

Structure

‘To me, fair friend, you never can be old’ by William Shakespeare is a fourteen-line
sonnet. The poem is structured in the form which has come to be synonymous with
the poet’s name. It is made up of three quatrains, or sets of four lines, and one
concluding couplet, or set of two rhyming lines.

The poem follows a consistent rhyme scheme that conforms to the pattern of ABAB
CDCD EFEF GG and it is written in iambic pentameter. This means that each line
contains five sets of two beats, known as metrical feet. The first is unstressed and
the second stressed. It sounds something like da-DUM, da-DUM. As is common
in Shakespeare’s poems, the last two lines are a rhyming pair, known as a couplet.
They often bring with them a turn or volta/shift/change in the poem. They’re

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sometimes used to answer a question posed in the previous twelve lines, shift
the perspective, or even change speakers.

Poetic Techniques

In ‘To me, fair friend, you never can be old’ Shakespeare makes use of several
poetic techniques. These include but are not limited to simile, alliteration,
and enjambment.

A simile is a comparison between two unlike things that uses the words “like” or “as”.
A poet uses this kind of figurative language to say that one thing is similar to another,
not like metaphor, that it “is” another. In the third quatrain, the poet uses a simile that
compares the process of aging to the progression of an hour hand on a clock. It
moves so slowly that if one is watching they can’t see it. But, it does ultimately
move.

Another important technique commonly used in poetry is enjambment. It occurs

when a line is cut off before its natural stopping point. Enjambment forces a reader
down to the next line, and the next, quickly. One has to move forward in order to
comfortably resolve a phrase or sentence. For example, the transition between lines
three and four.

Alliteration occurs when words are used in succession, or at least appear close
together, and begin with the same sound. For instance, “fair friend,” “For,” and “first”
in lines one and two.

Detailed Analysis

Lines 1-4
To me, fair friend, you never can be old,
For as you were when first your eye I eyed,
Such seems your beauty still. Three winters cold
Have from the forests shook three summers’ pride,

In the first lines of ‘‘To me, fair friend, you never can be old’ the speaker addresses
the Fair Youth to whom this poem and many others are dedicated. He tells this
young man that despite the time that might’ve passed since they met that he looks
no older. He cannot, in the speaker’s eyes, ever age. The Fair Youth is just as
beautiful as he was when they first knew one another. He is thinking specifically
about the young man’s eyes.

Since the first time they met, three “cold” winters have passed and three prideful
summers.

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Lines 5-8
Three beauteous springs to yellow autumn turned
In process of the seasons have I seen,
Three April perfumes in three hot Junes burned,
Since first I saw you fresh, which yet are green.

The next quatrain adds that their time together has also seen “Three beauteous
springs” that became “yellow autumn[s]”. They have been together through three
Aprils, which smelled of blooming flowers, and “three hot Junes” that burned under
the summer sun. The first time he saw this young man he was “fresh” and he still
appears that way. The word “green” in this line refers to youth as if a fruit has not
quite ripened.

Lines 9-12
Ah, yet doth beauty, like a dial-hand,
Steal from his figure, and no pace perceived;
So your sweet hue, which methinks still doth stand,
Hath motion, and mine eye may be deceived:
For fear of which, hear this, thou age unbred:
Ere you were born was beauty’s summer dead.

In the last quatrain of ‘To me, fair friend, you never can be old’ the speaker changes
tactics slightly and acknowledges that although the young man may seem not to
have aged, the speaker knows that he has. Time moves slowly, so much so that
people cannot see it. It is “like a dial-hand” of a clock. This simile speaks to the
power time has and how “no pace” can be perceived.
He knows that the young man’s beauty is also changing. His “sweet hue” which
appears to stand still is actually moving. It “Hath motion” and the speaker’s eye is
deceived.

In the couplet, which comes after the turn in the poem, he thinks about the possibility
that his eyes have been deceived. He addresses “thou age unbred,” or the future
generations. The speaker tells them that no matter what they see around them, the
most beautiful person to have lived is now dead.

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 The Sun Rising - John Donne

1 Busy old fool, unruly sun, 1

2 Why dost thou thus,
3 Through windows, and through curtains call on us?
4 Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run?
5 Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide
6 Late school boys and sour prentices,
7 Go tell court huntsmen that the king will ride,
8 Call country ants to harvest offices,
9 Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime,
10 Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.

11 Thy beams, so reverend and strong 2

12 Why shouldst thou think?
13 I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink,
14 But that I would not lose her sight so long;
15 If her eyes have not blinded thine,
16 Look, and tomorrow late, tell me,
17 Whether both th' Indias of spice and mine
18 Be where thou leftst them, or lie here with me.
19 Ask for those kings whom thou saw'st yesterday,
20 And thou shalt hear, All here in one bed lay.

21 She's all states, and all princes, I, 3

22 Nothing else is.
23 Princes do but play us; compared to this,
24 All honor's mimic, all wealth alchemy.
25 Thou, sun, art half as happy as we,
26 In that the world's contracted thus.
27 Thine age asks ease, and since thy duties be
28 To warm the world, that's done in warming us.
29 Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere;
30 This bed thy center is, these walls, thy sphere.

About the author:

Donne wrote many an amorous poem in his younger days, using the extended
metaphor or conceit to explore in depth the relationship between himself, the cosmos
and love. Poems such as The Flea and To His Mistress Going to Bed are particularly
popular.

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Because of his interest in love, religion and morals and inventive use of form and
intellectual prowess, he is often known as the father of the metaphysical poets.

Later on in life he devoted himself to religion, eventually becoming dean at St Paul's

cathedral in London. His Holy Sonnets and other religious verse are a
counterbalance to his more erotic writings.

Summary

Lying in bed with his lover, the speaker chides the rising sun, calling it a “busy old
fool,” and asking why it must bother them through windows and curtains. Love is not
subject to season or to time, he says, and he admonishes the sun—the “Saucy
pedantic wretch”—to go and bother late schoolboys and sour apprentices, to tell the
court-huntsmen that the King will ride, and to call the country ants to their harvesting.

Why should the sun think that his beams are strong? The speaker says that he could
eclipse them simply by closing his eyes, except that he does not want to lose sight of
his beloved for even an instant. He asks the sun—if the sun’s eyes have not been
blinded by his lover’s eyes—to tell him by late tomorrow whether the treasures of
India are in the same place they occupied yesterday or if they are now in bed with
the speaker. He says that if the sun asks about the kings he shined on yesterday, he
will learn that they all lie in bed with the speaker.

The speaker explains this claim by saying that his beloved is like every country in the
world, and he is like every king; nothing else is real. Princes simply play at having
countries; compared to what he has, all honor is mimicry and all wealth is alchemy.
The sun, the speaker says, is half as happy as he and his lover are, for the fact that
the world is contracted into their bed makes the sun’s job much easier—in its old
age, it desires ease, and now all it has to do is shine on their bed and it shines on
the whole world. “This bed thy centre is,” the speaker tells the sun, “these walls, thy
sphere.”

Form

The three regular stanzas of “The Sun Rising” are each ten lines long and follow a
line-stress pattern of 4255445555—lines one, five, and six are metered in iambic
tetrameter, line two is in dimeter, and lines three, four, and seven through ten are in
pentameter. The rhyme scheme in each stanza is ABBACDCDEE.

Commentary

One of Donne’s most charming and successful metaphysical love poems, “The Sun
Rising” is built around a few hyperbolic assertions—first, that the sun is conscious
and has the watchful personality of an old busybody; second, that love, as the
speaker puts it, “no season knows, nor clime, / Nor hours, days, months, which are
the rags of time”; third, that the speaker’s love affair is so important to the universe
that kings and princes simply copy it, that the world is literally contained within their
bedroom. Each of these assertions simply describes figuratively a state of feeling—

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to the wakeful lover, the rising sun does seem like an intruder, irrelevant to the
operations of love; to the man in love, the bedroom can seem to enclose all the
matters in the world. The inspiration of this poem is to pretend that each of these
subjective states of feeling is an objective truth.

Accordingly, Donne endows his speaker with language implying that what goes on in
his head is primary over the world outside it; for instance, in the second stanza, the
speaker tells the sun that it is not so powerful, since the speaker can cause an
eclipse simply by closing his eyes. This kind of heedless, joyful arrogance is perfectly
tuned to the consciousness of a new lover, and the speaker appropriately claims to
have all the world’s riches in his bed (India, he says, is not where the sun left it; it is
in bed with him). The speaker captures the essence of his feeling in the final stanza,
when, after taking pity on the sun and deciding to ease the burdens of his old age,
he declares “Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere.”

Analysis
The Sun Rising begins with a rush of blood, a blunt telling off, as if the speaker's
space and style has been cramped. He is annoyed. To relieve the self-induced
tension the speaker soon begins to compare himself with the sun, belittling the
power of that mighty star, declaring love the master of all. Inverts the hierarchy of the
time. There is an extremely complicated interpretation that includes religious
awakenings and purification; however, it is not the common interpretation of the
poem.

Tone
Starts off as affronted/ annoyed and becomes persuasive and proud.

Structure
Adapted sonnet structure (3 stanzas -10 lines long – ABBACDCDEE) Predominantly
iambic pentameter meter. Indents could show the movement of the sun. Also
focuses the reader on important statements throughout the poem.

Themes
Love, power, authority.

Extended metaphor
The best is the empire collapsing the world into the bedroom because of the power
of love.

Renaissance theory believes that the human body is a microcosm of the universe.

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 Go, lovely Rose - Edmund Waller

1 Go, lovely rose! 1

2 Tell her that wastes her time and me,
3 That now she knows,
4 When I resemble her to thee,
5 How sweet and fair she seems to be.

6 Tell her that’s young, 2

7 And shuns to have her graces spied,
8 That hadst thou sprung
9 In deserts, where no men abide,
10 Thou must have uncommended died.

11 Small is the worth 3

12 Of beauty from the light retired;
13 Bid her come forth,
14 Suffer herself to be desired,
15 And not blush so to be admired.

16 Then die! that she 4

17 The common fate of all things rare
18 May read in thee;
19 How small a part of time they share
20 That are so wondrous sweet and fair!

Summary

‘Go, Lovely Rose’ by Edmund Waller contains a speaker’s instructions to a rose. He

hopes to convince the woman he loves to step into the light and be admired.

The poem begins with the speaker asking a rose to speak with a woman he loves. It
is through the beauty of the rose he tries to convince the woman of a number of
things. The most important of these is that he is worth loving and she is worth
admiring. He no longer wants her to hide from him. The speaker believes her beauty,
and time on earth, is going to waste because she does not allow him to look at her.

The poem concludes with the speaker telling the rose to “die” after speaking with the
woman. This final shock will further motivate the woman to come forward and stop,
he thinks, wasting her time.

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Analysis

Stanza One

Go, lovely Rose—

Tell her that wastes her time and me,
That now she knows,
When I resemble her to thee,
How sweet and fair she seems to be.

In the first stanza of ‘Go, Lovely Rose’, the speaker begins by addressing a rose.
This flower is one that he is planning of sending to a woman he loves. He asks the
rose to first upon its arrival in the hand of this woman, informs her that she should
not be wasting time. The speaker hopes the flower, and the beauty and love it
represents, will encourage the woman to accept his advances. It is not only her time
she is wasting, but the speaker’s as well.

In the third line, he asks that the rose conveys to the woman that he sees her beauty
as being comparable to that of the flower. He wants her to understand that she is just
as attractive to him as the flower. This is certainly a compliment, onto which he adds
that she is also “sweet and fair.” The final three words of this section allude to the
fact that maybe the speaker doesn’t know the woman as well as he’d like. He says
that she “seems to be” the way he is describing her. Perhaps she really isn’t.

Stanza Two

Tell her that’s young,

And shuns to have her graces spied,
That hadst thou sprung
In deserts where no men abide,
Thou must have uncommended died.

The second stanza weaves a complicated and strange compliment aimed at the
speaker’s object of affection. He is still trying to convince her to increase her opinion
of him, but at the same time show her that if she doesn’t, her beauty is going to
waste. The speaker compares the woman, hiding from his gaze, to a rose that is
unseen by “men.”

He crafts an anecdote in which a rose grows in the desert “where no men abide.” If a
flower were ever to have this misfortune it would certainly die. Not from lack of
resources, but because it would never be “commended.” A rose, such as the woman
is, cannot live without being appreciated for her beauty. Although strange, this was
seen as a complement to the speaker. Perhaps it was even received as one by the
woman.

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Stanza Three

Small is the worth

Of beauty from the light retired:
Bid her come forth,
Suffer herself to be desired,
And not blush so to be admired.

The speaker continues on the same path in the second stanza. He is hoping to
convince the woman he loves, or at least admires, that she cannot live without his
praise. There is no reason, he thinks, for beauty to exist away from the light. He says
that “Small is the worth” of a woman, or flower’s beauty, if it is “from the light retired.”

Waller’s speaker returns to directly addressing the rose in the third line of
this quintain. He had become consumed in his own beliefs about beauty, and is now
returning to his mission. The rose is told to inform the woman that she must “come
forth.” Through the rose’s inherent beauty, it will convince the woman to step into the
light that is his gaze.

The following lines ask that the woman learn that she must accept the fact that she is
desired. Even if she doesn’t initially want to be, she has to change her mind. The
speaker sees the woman’s reticence to accept his advances as being due to her
shyness. He asks that she learn “not [to] blush” at the idea of being “admired.”

Stanza Four

Then die—that she

The common fate of all things rare
May read in thee;
How small a part of time they share
That are so wondrous sweet and fair!

The fourth stanza starts out shockingly. One must remember that the speaker is still
addressing the rose. After it has done its job and convinced the woman to come out
into the light, it should die. After having done this the woman will be shocked into
understanding that she too is subject to the “common fate of all things rare.” He feels
as if she doesn’t understand that one day she will die. If he is able to convey that fact
to her, perhaps she will be even more motivated to come to him.

The final couplet makes a general statement about beauty. In these lines, the
speaker once more compares a woman’s beauty, and limited time on earth, to that of
a rose. Their lifespans and qualities are similar. They are both “wondrous sweet and
fair!”

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 Ozymandias (of Egypt) - Percy Bysshe Shelley

1 I met a traveller from an antique land, 1

2 Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
3 Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
4 Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
5 And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
6 Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
7 Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
8 The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
9 And on the pedestal, these words appear:
10 My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
11 Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
12 Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
13 Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
14 The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

In this poem, the speaker describes meeting a traveller “from an antique land.” The
title, ‘Ozymandias,’ notifies the reader that this land is most probably Egypt since
Ozymandias was what the Greeks called Ramses II. He was a great and terrible
pharaoh in ancient Egypt.

The traveller tells a story to the speaker. In the story, he describes visiting Egypt.
There, he saw a large and intimidating statue of Ramses in the desert. He can tell
that the sculptor must have known his subject well because it is obvious from the
statue’s face that this man was a great leader, but one who could also be very
vicious.

He describes his sneer as having a “cold command.” Even though the leader was
probably very great, it seems that the only thing that survives from his realm is this
statue, which is half-buried and somewhat falling apart.

Meaning

‘Ozymandias’ carries an extended metaphor throughout the entire poem. All around
the traveler is desert — nothing is green or growing; the land is barren. The statue,
however, still boasts of the accomplishments this civilization had in the past. The
desert represents the fall of all empires — nothing powerful and rich can ever stay
that strong forever. This metaphor is made even more commanding in the poem by
Shelley’s use of an actual ruler. He utilizes an allusion to a powerful ruler in ancient
Egypt to show that even someone so all-powerful will eventually fall.

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Structure and Form

Form: Sonnet
Rhyme Scheme: ABABACDC EDEFEF
Meter: Iambic Pentameter

‘Ozymandias’ is considered to be a Petrarchan sonnet, even though the rhyme

scheme varies slightly from the traditional sonnet form. Structurally all
sonnets contain fourteen lines and are written in iambic pentameter.

The rhyme scheme of ‘Ozymandias’ is ABABACDC EDEFEF. This rhyme scheme

differs from the rhyme scheme of a traditional Petrarchan sonnet, whose octave (the
first eight lines of the poem) usually has a rhyme scheme of ABBAABBA.
Its sestet (the final six lines of the sonnet) does not have an assigned rhyme
scheme, but it usually rhymes in every other line or contains three different rhymes.
Shelley’s defiance of this rhyme scheme helps to set apart ‘Ozymandias’ from
other Petrarchan sonnets, and it is perhaps why this poem is so memorable. The
reason he did this may have been to represent the corruption of authority or
lawmakers.

Literary Devices

Shelley plays with a number of figurative devices in order to make the sonnet more
appealing to readers. These devices include:

Enjambment: Shelley uses this device throughout the text. For example, it occurs in
lines 2-8. By enjambing the lines, the poet creates a surprising flow.

Alliteration: It occurs in “an antique,” “stone/ Stand,” “sunk a shattered,”

“cold command,” etc.

Metaphor: The “sneer of cold command” contains a metaphor. Here, the ruler’s
contempt for his subjugates is compared to the ruthlessness of a military
commander.

Irony: Shelley uses this device in the following lines, “Look on my Works, ye Mighty,
and despair!/ Nothing beside remains.” The following lines also contain this device.

Synecdoche: In the poem, the “hand” and “heart” collectively hint at the pharaoh,
Ozymandias, as a whole. It is a use of synecdoche.

Allusion: The line “My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings” is an allusion to the
actual inscription described in the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus’s Bibliotheca
historica.

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Detailed Analysis

Line 1
I met a traveller from an antique land,

The text of ‘Ozymandias’ reads more like a story than a poem, although the line
rhymes do help to remind the reader that this is not prose. The speaker in the poem,
perhaps Percy Bysshe Shelley, tells the story from his point of view, using the
pronoun “I.”

In the first line, he talks about meeting a traveller from an antique country. At first,
this line is a tad ambiguous: Is the traveller from “an antique land,” or did he just
come back from visiting one? The reader also does not know where the speaker first
met this sojourner. The title indicates which land the traveller has visited. Greeks
called Ramses II a powerful Egyptian pharaoh, Ozymandias. So, it is easy for the
reader to recognize the “antique land” is Egypt, one of the oldest civilizations in the
world.

Lines 2-4
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

These lines are much clearer than the first, however, and it is clear to the reader
what, exactly, is occurring in the sonnet. The rest of the poem is actually written
in dialogue; the traveler recounts his experiences in Egypt to the poet’s persona.
Lines two through fourteen are only one sentence in length, as well. These lines also
contain some of the most vivid and beautiful imagery in all of poetry. Shelley was
such a masterful writer that it does not take much effort on the reader’s part to
imagine the scene in this piece clearly.

In lines two through four, the traveler describes a statue he saw in Egypt. Through
the eyes of the traveler, the reader sees two massive legs carved from stone lying in
the desert sand. Nearby, the face of the statue is half-buried. The face is broken, but
the traveler can still see the sculpture is wearing a frown and a sneer. From this, he
is able to tell that this ruler probably had absolute power, and he most definitely ruled
with an iron fist. It is also easy to interpret that this ruler probably had a lot of pride as
the supreme leader of his civilization.

Lines 5-8
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;

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The traveller then turns his attention to the sculptor who made the statue. He
comments that whomever the sculptor is, he knew his subject very well. Anyone
could say that the artist had exceptionally captured the passions of the ruler. Though
the pharaoh is long dead, he exists through the creation of a mere sculptor. So, who
is more powerful in this case? Undoubtedly, it is the sculptor.

He also seems to be commenting in line seven that while there is an end to living
beings, art is eternal—it survives. The gracious carves and the master’s touch live
past the remnants of history. In the next line, the traveler provides interesting insight
into the leader here. First, his hands show that the pharaoh mocked his people, yet
his heart was not all bad: he fed and cared for his people, as well. The hand that
held the rod fed not only the citizen but also mocked their pettiness. This line
provides an interesting dichotomy often found in the most terrible of leaders.
Besides, the “hand” stands for Ozymandias as a whole. It is a use of synecdoche.

Lines 9-14
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

Lines nine through eleven give more details about the sculpture, and the latter ones
include words that have been etched into the ruler’s pedestal. The words carved on
the pedestal, on which the leader sits, also tell of Ozymandias’ personality. He is
ordering those who see him to look upon all that he has created but do not
appreciate what he has done. Instead, the speaker has to despair and be afraid of it.
These words perfectly depict the leader’s hubris.

The last three lines, however, take on a different tone. Now, the leader is gone, and
so is his empire. Shelley implements irony into these lines to show that even though
this broken statue remains, the leader’s civilization does not. It has fallen, much like
the statue, and has turned to dust.

These lines are really powerful. The traveller almost seems to be mocking the ruler.
Besides, Shelley’s diction here is important. He uses words such as “decay” and
“bare” to show just how powerless this once-mighty pharaoh has become. There is
absolutely nothing left. The leader, much like his land, and much like the broken
statue depicting him, has fallen. It is in these lines that the theme of the poem
emerges: all leaders will eventually pass, and all great civilizations will eventually
turn into dust.

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Themes

Shelley makes use of a number of themes in this sonnet. The most important theme
is the impermanence of a ruler’s glory and his legacy. It is an implicit hint at the idea
of futility. No matter how hard a man tries to rivet his name, at some point, people
will forget him. For example, Ozymandias tried to become greater than God. He
declared himself the “King of Kings.” If we look at history, every ambitious ruler
declared them, more or less, by the same title. In their pursuit of greatness, they
forgot about their very nature: every living thing must die. Besides, the sonnet also
utilizes the themes of vainglory, the power of art, the decline of power, etc.

Tone

The overall theme of ‘Ozymandias’ is serious and awe-inspiring. For instance, the
line, “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone,” arouses both fear and pity in the
readers’ hearts. The size of the statue undoubtedly makes us wonder about the
greatness and power of the ruler. Yet, they also take pity on the decaying depiction
of the statue. It makes them think about the nature of human achievement. In the
next lines, the tone becomes more serious and fearful. As the poem progresses to
the end, it seems the tone softens a bit. The speaker somehow sympathizes with the
faded glory of the great ruler, Ozymandias. He emotionally speaks about the
inevitability of death and decay.

Historical Context

It is an understatement to say that Shelley was a clever man. While one can read
this poem to be about an ancient leader of Egypt, the poem could also be read as a
criticism for the world in which Shelley lived. Ever the political critic, Shelley perhaps
warns the leaders of England that they, too, will fall someday. Their overarching
ambition might lead them to their own downfall.

There is an interesting story behind the composition of the poem. In Shelley’s literary
cycle, the members would challenge each other to write poems about a common
subject. In 1817, Horace Smith spent his Christmas at Shelley’s house. They both a
chose passage from Diodorus Siculus’s book Bibliotheca historica that contained the
inscription: King of Kings Ozymandias am I. If any want to know how great I am and
where I lie, let him outdo me in my work.

They challenged one another to write a sonnet out of it. In Shelley’s sonnet, the
“traveller from an antique land” is the historian Siculus. The poem was published
in The Examiner on 11 January 1818. Explore Shelley’s 1817 draft and the published
version from The Examiner.

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About Percy Bysshe Shelley

Though Shelley was one of the important Romantic poets, he never achieved fame
while he was alive. However, he did keep company with some extremely talented
writers. His good friends include George Gordon Lord Byron and John Keats.
Besides, he was married to Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. Shelley’s best-
loved poems include ‘Ozymandias,’ ‘To a Skylark,’ and ‘Ode to the West
Wind,’ which is perhaps his most lauded work. Explore more P. B. Shelley poems.
Born into a well-to-do family, Shelley eventually attended Oxford, where he first
started his writing career. He was expelled, however, when he refused to admit that
he was the author of an anonymous text, “The Necessity of Atheism.”

Shelley met and fell in love with a young Mary Godwin, even though he was already
married. He abandoned his family to be with her; they married after his first wife
committed suicide, and Mary changed her surname to Shelley.

Tragically, Shelley died young, at the age of 29, when the boat he was sailing got
caught in a storm. His body washed to shore sometime later.

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 Remember - Christina Rossetti

1 Remember me when I am gone away, 1

2 Gone far away into the silent land;
3 When you can no more hold me by the hand,
4 Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
5 Remember me when no more day by day
6 You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
7 Only remember me; you understand
8 It will be late to counsel then or pray.
9 Yet if you should forget me for a while
10 And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
11 For if the darkness and corruption leave
12 A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
13 Better by far you should forget and smile
14 Than that you should remember and be sad.

Summary

‘Remember’ by Christina Rossetti addresses a couple’s future and the speaker’s

desire to be remembered, but not if it causes her lover sadness.

In ‘Remember’ by Christina Rossetti, the poetic persona encourages the unseen

reader to remember her after her death, and it is only near the end of the poem that
the narrator changes her mind (one can assume that the narrator is Rossetti herself)
and allows him to forget her. However, in the first lines of this poem, the speaker
begins by asking the listener, who is presumably her lover, to remember her when
she dies. This is something that she repeats several times, always hoping that he
won’t forget her when she’s gone. Their love will remain a light in the darkness. But,
there is an interesting transition at the end of the poem. The speaker tells her lover
that she wants him to remember her but not if it means they’re going to be sad.

Structure

‘Remember’ is an amazing poem with simple language and a great theme. Both
these features work in tandem with the rhyme scheme, thus making it sound
pleasant. This sonnet’s beauty lies not only in its choice of languages but also in
retaining or maintaining a somewhat complex idea. However, ‘Remember’ is a
fourteen-line sonnet that is structured with the rhyme scheme of ABBA ABBA CDD
ECE.

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The first half of the poem follows a standard Petrarchan sonnet pattern, while the
second half is quite original. Despite the different rhyme schemes, other aspects of
this poem should be familiar to lovers of sonnets. For instance, the turn or volta is
placed halfway through the poem. Here, the speaker transitions away from her pleas
for remembrance and into the realization that her memory might bring her lover pain
and that they should, therefore, forget her.

The inventor of the Italian sonnet, Petrarch was an Italian poet in the sixteenth
century who wrote of courtly ideals, with the themes of noble, chaste love; it is not
surprising that Christina Rossetti chose this for her poem, as her father was Gabriele
Rossetti, a prominent Italian scholar, poet, and political exile who taught Italian and
Dante to students in England.

Literary Devices

In ‘Remember,’ Christina Rossetti makes use of several literary devices. These

include but are not limited to enjambment, repetition, anaphora, and examples of
metaphors. The latter is seen through the description of death as the “silent land.”
This is a euphemism that is meant to make the prospective loss less frightening and
depressing. Besides, the poet also highlights this metaphor, “the silent land,” to place
distance between them, and knows that after death, there is no chance when he can
“hold [her] by the hand.” The phrase is accompanied by another that works the same
way, “gone away,” and repeats the same words in the second line to emphasize the
finality of death.

There is a good example of repetition, and anaphora, in the use of “Remember me”
at the start of two lines. These lines start the two quatrains of the sonnet. The
sections are based on the speaker’s desire to be remembered. There are also a
couple of examples of enjambment in these lines—for instance, the transition
between lines five and six as well as seven and eight.

Themes

In ‘Remember,’ Christina Rossetti taps into themes of life, memory, forgetting, loss or
death, and love. The latter is seen most clearly through the last lines of the poem.
The speaker’s love for her listener is stronger than her desire that they remember
her after she’s gone. She’d rather they be happy than maintain her memory, a
marker of true love. Memory is one of the major themes, as is seen through the
repetition of the word “remember.” It raises questions about what it means to die if
one is still alive in another’s mind. However, the speaker in the poem envisages
herself dead or departed and speaks to her beloved left behind after her death. This
is a very simple poem with a great message that all of us should apply to our lives. It
is written in very simple language. The readers can easily access and identify.

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Tone

The speaker of ‘Remember’ is scared, not of death, but of her lover forgetting her. It
is to her the most brutal thing that could happen to her – her tone wavers between
conciliatory and contemplative, soft and weak, as she tries to implore her beloved to
never forget her even when she has ‘gone far away into the silent land. In the first
few lines, she is adamant that she must be remembered at all costs when she is no
longer physically present to remind her lover to do so.

Analysis of Remember

Lines 1–2
Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;

The very first quatrain of ‘Remember’ by Christina Rossetti brings the subject of the
speaker’s death and the painful separation of the two lovers. The poem has been
written like a monologue directly addressed to the lover. In the sonnet, the poet
shows her urging her lover to remember her when she is “gone away,/ Gone far
away into the silent land;”

However, in the first two lines of this sonnet, Christina Rossetti deals with the
element of death and tries to make her lover understand that he needs not
remember her even after her death. She says that when she has died, she will go
into the “silent land” or the barren land of death.

Moreover, the poet here makes use of a euphemism in the very first line when she
says, “Remember me when I am gone away.” The euphemism here refers to the
poet’s death. It may also be viewed as a metaphor, comparing death with the notion
of undertaking a journey. This is the journey that starts from one world to the next,
which, of course, relates to the main theme of the poem.

Whereas, She, in line 2 of this sonnet, makes use of another metaphor when she
says, “Gone far away into the silent land.” It is to be noted here that the notion of
eternal life is depicted as a ‘silent land’ that hints at the lost connection between the
dead and living, kept only in the memory that’s fluid, transient, and insubstantial.

While Rossetti doesn’t make much use of several symbols in her poetic works, in this
sonnet, she makes use of the word “silent land” for eternal life. Here she might be
indicating her Calvinist belief in predestination. Along with that, she might have also
used the term “silent land” in place of heaven or hell as she is not aware of which
eternal life she is destined to live in. This is just her assumption.

The language of this sonnet is so simple and meaningful that readers can also easily
apply it to their life. The message that this sonnet wants to give is that death is
inescapable, but it must not gobble up the lives of those who are still alive.

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Lines 3–4
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.

In these two lines of ‘Remember’ by Christina Rossetti, the speaker says why her
lover should remember her. As at the time of leaving this earthly burden, it will be
impossible for him to hold her by the hand. Nor can she come back from halfway and
turn to bid adieu to her love. The argument is solid yet emotional. There is a sense of
realism as well as the fear of death in the speaker’s tone. Whatsoever, the poet, by
referring to holding hands, present physical touch as a symbol of trust. Moreover, the
poet wishes to turn back when she is nearing her death as he was always there to
hold her hands. They weren’t ever alone in this journey. Hence, in the future, she
feels sad about her lonely journey to oblivion.

Lines 5–6
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann’d:

The above two lines of ‘Remember’ suggest that Rossetti and her lover should have
got married so that they could show their love for each other. In the above lines, the
poet expects a lot from her lover and even suggests to him that he must not grieve
over her death if he cannot remember her. She implores him to remember the days
when they were together, cherishing each moment of their mutual love as she won’t
be there in the upcoming days after her death when her lover can tell her about their
future. He will be lonely, and she will be there only in his thoughts.

The use of the word “planned” is interesting here. Death is an unplanned destination
that one has to take at any point in life. Mortals can plan things on which they have
apparent control. But, death being absolute, is uncontrollable and unconquerable.
When death knocks at the door, one not only has to open the door but also has to
leave her earthly habitation. The destination to nonentity is a journey that none has
ever planned or predicted of.

Lines 7–8
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.

Here, in ‘Remember,’ the poet further says that it is of no use to counsel or pray
later, i.e., when she is gone. Her lover can only remember the old days. In thoughts,
she will be present, and in reality, the lover has to bear the earthly burden alone. It’s
important to note here that Rossetti chose to repeat the word ‘remember’ throughout
the poem, thus allowing the reader’s mind to grow used to this pattern of repetition;
as one ‘remember’ fades, the other comes into play, segueing from image to image
and allowing the reader to understand intrinsically, more than intellectually, the full
experience of what Rossetti is asking.

In the four stanzas, each is categorized by a single verse wherein the word
‘remember’ appears. However, it is not just the theme of memory that is in play here;
by ‘remembering,’ the narrator hopes to overcome death. As has been mentioned in

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many poems of the Romantic era, the true glory of poetry was that one was made
immortal through the lines written.

Lines 9–10
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:

One could take this poem, ‘Remember,’ contextually, as being spoken to a loved one
while on a deathbed, which could count for the slow, lilting pace of the poem,
growing slower and slower as it reaches towards the volta. The volta is a key point of
the poem, a climax where the poem’s central themes suddenly and almost
inexplicably change, and the narrator is fine with being forgotten by her beloved.

However, her opinion changes near this volta of the poem. Slowly, her words linger
over the idea that ‘yet if you forgot me for a while, it would not be a terrible thing. It
would allow her lover to be happy, and the speaker overcomes her fear of being
forgotten to admit that this would be an ideal situation for them. She says, what if he
will forget her for a while and then pretend to remember her by grieving over her
death.

Lines 11–12
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,

The eleventh line of ‘Remember’ by Christina Rossetti begins with a euphemism.

Here, the poet says: “For if the darkness and corruption leave.” In this line, death is
viewed as corruption and darkness. It is like a body decaying. The poet here is very
excited and says that he should not take her death and his subsequent memory as a
burden to him. Moreover, the poet is anxious about her lover even after she won’t be
there to see or feel him. It is mere anticipation that brings out how much the poet
cared for her beloved. Apart from that, the poet has thought about the ultimate many
times before writing this poem. Hence, she says that her death will leave on her lover
“A vestige of the thoughts” that once she had.

Lines 13–14
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.

Therefore, in ‘Remember,’ she suggests that he should better ‘forget and smile.’ She
continues with, ‘Better by far that you should forget and smile / Than that you should
remember and be sad. Here, the poet gives instructions to her lover by saying that
he must go on with his life and should not keep thinking about her death. Rather he
should “…forget and smile…than remember and be sad”.

It is interesting to note the use of the word ‘remember’ here. While acting as a quick
key to the heart of the poem and making it easy to try and keep it in mind, the word
loses strength upon repetition. It is as though the speaker is fading away with every

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reiteration of the word ‘remember,’ and thus, by the middle part of the poem, the
word ‘remember’ doesn’t have the same punch of meaning as it had in the
beginning. This can be taken as the narrator losing her will to force her lover to
remember her, by hook or by crook.

To sum up, Rossetti had written this sonnet to her lover with the instruction and
advice that he needs not be upset after her death. She advises him not to remember
anything about her, for she would rather know that he is happier than that he is, in a
sense, dead while alive. The message of this poem must be applied by all to their
lives, as well, for it’s the ultimate solution to handle the death of the near and dear
ones.

Historical Context

‘Remember’ by Christina Rossetti is a poem written during the Romantic era.

Although Keats, Byron, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Blake, and Shelley, dominate the
Romantic era, there was a smaller group of poets who, influenced by the Romantics,
demanded just as much attention. They were the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, who
milled around Romantic fame and produced work that has experienced a resurgence
of interest in modern times. Although it has been taken as a tried and tested pattern
that the Pre-Raphaelites were all melancholy, death-obsessed, and miserable every
waking moment, nothing could be further from the truth. Popular culture enjoys
painting the Pre-Raphaelites as their preconception, that of poets wasting away from
consumption and too much drink. Christina Rossetti, on the other hand, was
different.

Romantic poetry was largely built on the tenement of “memento mori,” meaning
“remember that you will die.” Thus, in many works of the era, readers find an almost
overwhelming reference to death in every form and capacity running rampant
through the verses. As Romantics, they battered away the idea of scientific reading
and focused almost exclusively on death as a journey or a figurehead, and the act of
dying as something intrinsically valuable. Christina Rossetti’s ‘Remember’ follows
this same pattern.

About Christina Rossetti

Born in London in 1830, the poet of ‘Remember,’ Christina Rossetti belonged to a

wealthy family and was brought up as a pious Anglican. She was the youngest child
of a very gifted, loving family, and her early childhood was very happy and devoid of
hardship. She had three brothers and sisters and received a very good education –
practically unheard of at the time for women. Her brother, Dante Gabriel Rossetti,
became an accomplished painter and poet, her sister Maria was a renowned Dante
scholar, and her brother William followed her in the fields of art and literary criticism.

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