How does Rossetti use form, structure and language in the poem “Remember”?

“Remember” is all about death. The poem is written in the second person and it is displaying a relationship between one person and another. Is the writer the one that wants to be remembered? Rossetti was only nineteen, and she lived with her dying father for many years. This may be interpreted as Rossetti using dramatic imagery in relation to her father’s death or can be said that it is the eventual death of any human being.

Rossetti wrote the poem “Remember” in iambic pentameter because it sounds like a heartbeat. She uses a complex rhyme scheme that fits in with all the different interpretations that can be made. The rhyme of iambic pentameter allows us the reader to get a soothing, gentle feeling even though throughout the poem the moods are changing as in the beginning the voice talks about what they will miss and then at the volta the voice goes on to say “stop grieving as you will remember me whether I am here or not!” The introductory octave leads us to believe that death is peaceful and the writer also uses several euphemisms to improve one’s perception of death. The poem evokes tender images of love to convey the writer’s emotions. In the quatrain the voice has changed tone as they talk about their loss and their devotion to the loved one that is being missed. The final couplet uses simple language and changes tone so the reader is made to feel uplifted.

“Remember” uses simple language that creates a calming effect. The final two lines use juxtaposition that compares two opposite opinions. Rossetti says “Better by far you should forget and smile, Than that you remember and be sad” these represent how people should think after grief over the loss of a loved one. The writer wants people to remember that no matter if your loved one is no longer with you, they will always be there in your hearts and looking down on you from heaven. Rossetti says that if you remember and grieve over the loss then it will not be good for you or the people around you.

Rossetti uses a metaphor that talks about the time after a relationship or the time after death. The metaphor she uses is “silent land”. She also uses repetition when saying “gone” how it is repeated at the start of line two. There is also a contrast in the poem because of how the speaker, a woman, and a man approach the relationship. The contrast is between the emphasis on remembering in the