Christina Rossetti's “Remember” is a poem about grief, told not from the perspective of a mourner but rather the person who's to be mourned. In this sonnet, the speaker begs a loved one to remember her after her death—but also not to feel guilty if he forgets her, so long as she's made some permanent mark on his life and he remains happy. The speaker's poignant realism (in the sense of accepting that her beloved may in fact forget about her) engages both with the finality of death and the persistence of love. Rosetti wrote the poem in 1849 at the age of 19, though it was first published in 1862 in her collection Goblin Market and Other Poems.
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The Full Text of “Remember”
1Remember me when I am gone away,
2 Gone far away into the silent land;
3 When you can no more hold me by the hand,
4Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
5Remember me when no more day by day
6 You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
7 Only remember me; you understand
8It will be late to counsel then or pray.
9Yet if you should forget me for a while
10 And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
11 For if the darkness and corruption leave
12 A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
13Better by far you should forget and smile
14 Than that you should remember and be sad.
The Full Text of “Remember”
1Remember me when I am gone away,
2 Gone far away into the silent land;
3 When you can no more hold me by the hand,
4Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
5Remember me when no more day by day
6 You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
7 Only remember me; you understand
8It will be late to counsel then or pray.
9Yet if you should forget me for a while
10 And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
11 For if the darkness and corruption leave
12 A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
13Better by far you should forget and smile
14 Than that you should remember and be sad.
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“Remember” Summary
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“Remember” Themes
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Love, Memory, and Grief
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Remember”
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Lines 1-2
Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land; -
Lines 3-4
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay. -
Lines 5-6
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann'd: -
Lines 7-8
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray. -
Lines 9-10
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve: -
Lines 11-14
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.
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“Remember” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Alliteration
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Assonance
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Apostrophe
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Caesura
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End-Stopped Line
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Enjambment
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Paradox
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Repetition
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Metaphor
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“Remember” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Silent land
- Counsel
- Corruption
- Vestige
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Remember”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Remember” Speaker
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“Remember” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Remember”
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More “Remember” Resources
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External Resources
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More on Rossetti's Life and Work — A short biography and links to more of Rossetti's poems from the Poetry Foundation.
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A Reading of the Poem — Listen to the actor Mairin O'Hagan perform the poem aloud.
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Gender and Power in Rossetti's Work — An article on Christina Rossetti's influence as a feminist thinker.
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Portraits of Rossetti — A selection of portraits of Rossetti from London's National Portrait Gallery. Some depict her with her artistic family, and some are by a member of her artistic family—namely her brother, the painter and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
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The Poem's Manuscript — See pictures of the poem in Rossetti's own handwriting.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Christina Rossetti
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