A comparison- Rossetti's ''Song'' & ''Remember''

In ‘Song’ and ‘Remember’ Rossetti attempts to capture her beliefs upon death and oblivion, and how they are affected by her religious dedication. Rossetti was a devout Anglican, refusing three marriage proposals on the basis of religion or lack of religion of her partners. During the 19^th century, society had a morbid fascination with death and the concept of the afterlife. Hence why gothic works such as ‘’Frankenstein’’ and many poets who based their writing upon darkness and grief, were so popular during this period; Rossetti is no exception. However, her reflections upon death deconstruct the Victorian need for excessiveness in their mourning process. Holding extravagant funerals, dressing in mourning clothes for months on end, clutching the memory of their deceased to the point of obsession. Rossetti’s view of death focuses upon the afterlife, the spiritual nature of death. Rather than the obsession and melancholy of those left behind.

In ‘Song’, Rossetti portrays a controlling but extremely intense character. The poem follows a regular rhyme scheme of couplets, which are consistent in each stanza regardless of whether the iambic trimeter rhythm has been distorted. The second and fourth as well as the sixth and seventh couplets rhyme within each stanza. The repetitive rhyme scheme creates a song-like tone to the poem, suggesting an innocent and playful voice. However, this completely juxtaposes the actual meaning of the poem, and the subtext of death and loss.

In contrast, ‘Remember’ contains an irregular rhyme scheme. The form of the poem as a sonnet, however, creates a sense of order and control. The chaos of the rhyme scheme reflects upon the speaker’s emotional turmoil, and that she is ambivalent in her interpretation of death. The sonnet form, however, constricts her expression about death. Similar to how women in the 1800s were restricted in their ability to express their opinions. Despite Rossetti’s reputation for challenging the social consensus, her speaker expresses themselves in a more conformed and sensitive way than the speaker in ‘Song’, which is accentuated by the restrictions of the sonnet structure, as the speaker remains tactful and tactical in their speech as they are confined within the fourteen lines of a sonnet.

Additionally, the nature of the poem as a sonnet reveals that the speaker is expressing themselves within the theme of love and time. Rossetti combines these within this poem, so the speaker reflects upon their love and the nature of it, as well as how death and time will affect it. In contrast, although ‘Song’ has no definite form, there is a consistent iambic trimeter, which attempts to supress the speaker into a rhythmic, regular form of expression.  However, the speaker often disrupts this in order to emphasise certain words and to add impact to the message they are trying to get across, such as in addressing their ‘’dearest’’. Which reflects the emotional attachment, and compassion felt by the speaker towards them, so much so that they disrupt the rhythm of the poem.

The speaker in ‘’Song’’ is portrayed as being a much more demanding character than that of the one in ‘’Remember’’. They frequently dictate what they wish for their ‘’dearest’’ to do once they have met their end, ‘’ sing no’’, ‘’plant thou no’’. The demanding and dominant nature of this speaker shows how they were most likely in control throughout their relationship. Contrasting to this, the speaker in ‘’Remember’’ is much less invested in their relationship, ‘’you tell me of our future that you plann’d’’ suggests that the speaker was not only more reserved, but more submissive and possibly less invested in the relationship than their partner was. Despite this, the speaker in ‘’Remember’’ is much more sensitive and tentative towards the emotional response of their partner, using euphemisms frequently, ‘’when I am gone away’’. This shows how the speaker, although less persistent in the relationship, is no less compassionate towards their partner. In contrast, although the speaker in ‘’Song’’ portrays their passions and desires much more openly, they are much less tactful towards the sensitivity of the subject. Introducing the subject with ‘’When I am dead’’, which is not only tactless, but blunt and holds no real regard for the emotion of their partner. Reflecting, perhaps, on how their domination in the relationship resulted in their partner not being able to express their emotions and communicate as much as they would have desired. This additionally links to the title of ‘’Song’’, as the speaker is singing out over the voices of the living and their lover, as to what they desire in death.

On the other hand, the speaker in ‘’Remember’’ simply wants that, to be remembered in a way which is not emotionally destructive for their partner, ‘’better by far you should forget and smile’’. Suggesting, possibly, that although the suppressed, the speaker of ‘’Remember’’ is more compassionate towards their partner.

However in both poems, the speakers reflect upon death as both freedom and as a prison.  In ‘’Remember’’ it has been afore mentioned that the speakers partner is suggested to be much more controlling over them. Therefore, death is freedom, in a manner of speaking. Particularly as the speaker has control over their death, if nothing else. Despite this suggestively positive outcome of death, the speaker describes death as ‘’the silent land’’. The speaker interprets death not only as physical, but is limbo-like; a plane of existence rather than living. The association of death with silence additionally frames death in a negative light, due to the fact that Rossetti’s greatest love is words, and poetry. The complete lack of which is most likely not dissimilar to hell for such a literary orientated person.

In song, death is similarly portrayed as a place of silence, ‘’I shall not hear the nightingale’’. However, the speaker in this poem trivialises the small pleasures that our sense give to us, rather than portray the silence in a negative and foreboding light. As the complete separation of our world from the spiritual one means any such nostalgia is irrational, as all you need in the spirit world is to be in the presence of God. This is reflected as such in ‘’Song’’ due to Rossetti’s strong Tractarian background, as the speaker trivialises the rituals required by the living to cope with death, under the illusion that they are paying the dead respect. When, in fact, it is utterly pointless, as in death the soul does not want for anything, aside from the spiritual nourishment that Rossetti craved.