Compare and Contrast: 'Song' and 'Remember'

Compare and contrast how Rossetti shows her view on death and the after-life in the poem’s ‘Song’ and ‘Remember.’

Both poems by Rossetti talk about death and the after-life. Both of the poems address the subject and in the times of Victorian Britain, death would be an awkward untouched subject. The fact that Rossetti has addressed death in such a way in her poems is a huge contrast to the era. Even though other poets like Keats have addressed death, Rossetti was more to the point about the journey of dying and the after-life.

The structures of both poems are different in comparison. ‘Song’ has two clear defined stanzas whereas ‘Remember’ is one stanza that is broken up by end-stopped lines, as if to be a break. As ‘Song’ has no rhyme scheme the rhythm of the poem is read at a slower pace. ‘Remember’ has a rhyme scheme of: ABBA. This use of rhyming couplets makes the poems pace increase only to be slowed down with caesuras mid line and end-stopped lines that make the reader stop to think about what Rossetti is trying to say and express.

In the first line of both poems Rossetti addresses the topic; death. Within ‘Song’ the first line ‘When I am dead, my dearest’ is to the point. The use of the word ‘dead’ is very blunt and emotionless. Rossetti here addresses the person with a poem that is as serious and the tone and theme of the poem. In the first line of ‘Remember’ Rossetti pitches the idea of death as if somebody has ‘gone away’.  ‘Gone away’ is a euphemism for dead, this type of poetic feature creates a sense of fear from the persona‘s point of view. This euphemism also hints at some sort of futuristic adventure, or in contrast, a longing for death.

Both poems address the after-life to be still a physical place; however, it comes across as an opaque blurry image. This shown when in ‘Song’ Rossetti uses ‘the twilight’ to describe the realm after life itself. In ‘Remember’ Rossetti uses ‘the silent land’ to describe the after-life. This use of the word ‘silent’ suggests a world without pain. I feel as if Rossetti has used the word ‘land’ to represent the ground that the soul rests in the ground until Jesus returns and you are taken to heaven, which could be a link to her strong religious faith.