Christina Rossetti · first published 1862
Remember
Meaning, complete text, stanza guide, vocabulary, techniques and an explained quiz.
What the poem means
A speaker first asks to be remembered after death, then decides the beloved's happiness matters more than faithful grief.
The sonnet's octave imagines separation and lost plans; the sestet turns with “Yet” and revises the demand as memory naturally fades. The preference for forgetting with a smile transforms remembrance from an obligation into a generous choice.
The poem
Spelling and punctuation follow the checked source edition. Stanza links connect the text to the guide and quiz.
Stanza 1. Remember me when I am gone away, Gone far away into the silent land; When you can no more hold me by the hand, Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay. Remember me when no more day by day You tell me of our future that you plann'd: Only remember me; you understand It will be late to counsel then or pray. Yet if you should forget me for a while And afterwards remember, do not grieve: For if the darkness and corruption leave A vestige of the thoughts that once I had, Better by far you should forget and smile Than that you should remember and be sad.
Stanza guide
Reading the poem
The Petrarchan turn is ethical as well as formal. Repeated imperatives initially control the survivor's response, but the final six lines release that control and accept partial forgetting, making love visible through renunciation.
Return to stanza 1 ↑Vocabulary
- counsel
- advice or discussion about what to do
- corruption
- decay, especially of the body after death
- vestige
- a small remaining trace of something
Literary techniques
Volta
“Yet if you should forget me”
The turn reverses the opening request and changes the speaker's priorities.
Imperative
“Remember me”
The repeated command establishes emotional pressure before it is withdrawn.
Antithesis
remember and be sad / forget and smile
Balanced alternatives sharpen the poem's final act of care.
Study check
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