Comparing "Song " and "Remember" by Christina Rossetti.

Compare and contrast how Rossetti shows her views on death and the after-life in the poems “Song” and “Remember”.

There are many ways in which Rossetti shows her views on death and the after-life in the poems “Song” and “Remember”.

 Rossetti was a 19^th Century Poet who was, despite having quiet a privileged life style, became very melancholy when entering her teens, often dwelling on mortality and faith in her poems. As a strong Christian, Rossetti’s portrayals of death in her poems are very peaceful and tranquil, showing that she finds comfort in the thought that one day she will be freed from human emotion. This often also reflects the constraints of women in her times, as death appears to be more of a freedom in her poems than the lives lead by the characters. 

Firstly, Rossetti shows her views on death and the afterlife in the poem “Song” by insisting that her death should not be over mourned. She portrays death as an inevitable event that should not be feared and faced with sadness or trepidation. She describes how she believes death to be like “dreaming through the twilight” using this luminal sense to display how she thinks we should take comfort in the fact that- in death- all human worries and emotions will no longer affect us. She describes how she shall no longer be subjected to human sufferings or “hear the nightingale sing on, as if in pain”. The reference to Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale”, a sad poem which reflects how Keats believes the Nightingale’s song to be a sad one, shows that Rossetti believes that in death she will no longer have to be subjected to common sadness or the melancholy we know she felt for most of her life (suffering from depression at one time), again reiterating that she sees death and the after-life as a freedom from human constraints.

Secondly, Rossetti also rejects the common Victorian tradition of heavily dwelling on death, stating “Sing no sad songs for me”. “Sad songs” implies a funeral or some form of mourning, which Rossetti continues to reject. This implies that Rossetti does not want people to dwell on death, or comply to the normal Victorian stereotypes of surrounding one’s self with reminders of mortality. In fact, Rossetti is imperative in stating “Plant though no roses at my head” in mourning, but rather “be the green grass above (me)”, as we know, coming from the Romantic Poetic Era, Rossetti will have believed in everyday beauty in nature, and this rejection of normal mourning and beauty stereotypes could further show her rejection of infatuation over death.

Rossetti also shows that she does not think it particularly important to be remembered, as “haply I may remember, and haply may I forget” means that she believes she may forget herself whom she was before, and as a result cannot blame whoever is left behind for forgetting her also, if they choose to. This reflects Rossetti’s belief in Soul Sleeping, in which your souls rest until the resurrection of Christ, and in which you forget who you were before in order to be completely free of human pain so that your soul is “preserved”. The lines “I shall not see the shadows, I shall not feel the rain” are very similar to Psalm 121 in the old testament of the Bible, which states “The sun shall not smite the by day, nor the moon by night”, showing how when Soul Sleeping you are no longer effected by your surroundings, and that you can just be at peace. Rossetti uses this similarity to reflect her own views of death and the after-life, as it shows how she herself can find comfort in the thought of death, and sees it as a peaceful time and therefore not something that should be mourned.

Similarly, the poem “Remember” also reflects Christina Rossetti’s view on death and the after-life, again reiterating her views on Soul Sleeping as she describes going “far away to the silent land”. This is very similar to her description of “dreaming through the twilight” and continues to reflect her belief that she will no longer be affected by human woes when dead.

Perhaps differently to song, Rossetti expresses a different kind of freedom. Whereas in “Song” Rossetti expresses freedom from “the nightingale” and its sad songs, she uses “Remember” to show how in death, women can at last be free from the patriarchal male society and the constraints placed upon women. She describes how “You tell me of our future planned”, the pronouns “You” and “our” suggesting that she does not have any choice in the matter, and that the male in the poem is making the decisions for the both of them. However, Rossetti uses the poem to show that once the poetic voice is dead, he will have no control over her as he once did. For example, the poetic voice uses the imperative of “Remember me” to emphasise how he no longer can tell her what to do or “hold (me) by the hand” as though guiding her, and that she shall be free from the sadness he may face as a result of her loss.

In addition to this, Rossetti reflects her own voice in song, describing once again how it is important to be happy and not to dwell on death as the Victorian culture of mortality would dictate to be the norm.  In the poem “Remember” she describes how it is better to “forget and smile” than to “remember and be sad”, which has extremely similar connotations to “Song”, in which she says “sing no sad songs for me”. All of these lines reflect Rossetti’s own view on death as something that should not be mourned. It could also reflect her romantic poet roots, as “Remember” suggests also that life is still beautiful and should be treasured and relished in rather than dwelling on the dead, who- in her eyes – will no longer be affected by the “darkness and corruption” of human life or remember what they have come from.

In conclusion, Rossetti uses the poems “Song” and “Remember” to show her rejection of the Victorian culture of mortality, as in both she describes how it is much more important to be happy than it is to dwell on something that she believes the dead will not even remember. However, she does use the two poems slightly differently, using “Remember” to subtly display her rejection of male dominance and “Song” to display her distaste for continued and what she appears to believe to be self-indulged mourning. None the less, both poems reflect Rossetti’s strong faith that when her soul sleeps she will be free from human pain and emotion, and be able to rest from all controversies and conflicts that she faces in the life of an unmarried Victorian Woman.