In the first half of the stanza she uses a lot of references to herself ‘Remember me’, ‘Only remember me’, this is for her own reassurance that when she is going to die that someone will be thinking about her and still care.
In the poem there are feelings of death and sadness and we know that the person in the poem is about to die, this is shown in line1-2.
‘Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far into the silent land’.
The image ‘Gone away’ suggest she is going away for good and going to die ‘Silent land’ suggest a figure of heaven, somewhere peaceful hard to reach.
‘Remember’ is a poem that shows images of sadness, death and remembrance.
I am now going to discuss about the poem ‘A woman to her lover’ written by Christina Walsh, It has four stanzas which all explain different feelings and emotions felt by ‘A woman to her lover’.
In this poem the poet describes how her lover won’t treat her and how she would like to be treated.
The poet, she writes that she would like to be treated with respect and for their relationship to be equal, this is shown in line 21.
‘That I should be your comrade, friend and mate,
To live and work, to love and die with you’.
She refuses to be treated like a slave or someone her lover can walk all over on, this is shown in lines 3-6
‘To make of me a bond slave,
To bear you children,
Wearing out my life,
No servant will I be’.
If this were what her lover expects from her she would refuse him.
The tone of the poem has a lot of expectation from her lover, she is very straight forward, this is shown in the harshness of the words used in the poem e.g. ‘vanquished’, ‘I refuse you’, this is shown especially in the 1st stanza.
In the 2nd stanza the tone is references to heaven and God and the image is of a perfect beautiful woman which she will rather not portray if this is what her lover expects from her, this is shown in line 11.
‘Go! I am no doll to dress and sit for feeble worship’.
I n this line she explains that she is not perfect and that she will not be a figure for her lover to worship on’.
‘A wingless angel who can do no wrong’. (Line 10)
This is not the image she would like to portray to her lover.
In the 3rd stanza the tone is of the woman doing everything to please him, an example of this is in line 14-15.
‘A creature who will have no greater joy,
Than gratify your glamorous desire’.
She expresses that she will not be that kind of woman who will gratify her lover’s desire and that her body will not be used has an object only for her lovers eyes.
I n the last line of the 3rd stanza,
‘Not for you the hand of any wakened woman of our time’.
I think this describes how woman in the olden days were made to kneel at their lovers every words and that now in modern times women are more independent and speak their own mind and they don’t have to please their lovers every wishes.
In the 4th stanza, the mood changes because she tells her lover how she would like to be treated, and how she wants their relationship to progress.
The poet begins the fourth stanza with,
‘But if you ask me.’ (Line 20)
This is because the other three stanzas show what her lover expects from her and these stanzas of what she wants their relationship to be; this is shown in line 24-27.
‘That so together we may know the purity and height,
Of passion, and of joy and sorrow.
Then O husband, I am yours forever
And our co-equal love will make the stars to laugh with joy’.
She wants she and her lover to share the feelings in sorrow and sadness together, everything they do to are shared together.
‘A woman to her lover’ is a poem, which shows images of love, expectation and strong feelings.
I am now going to compare the two poems ‘A woman to her lover’ and ‘Remember’. The differences I see in these two poems is that they are both talking on topics of difference.
‘Remember’ is talking about remembrance and is reminiscing about the good times the couple had together before those times are put to a permanent end; the poem is also quite calm.
On the other hand ‘A woman to her lover’ is more aggressive and filled with strong opinions and expectation and talks about how she the poet would like their relationship to progress.
In these two poems I see differences in the types of relationships the have with their partners. In ‘Remember’ it shows that they have been together a long time, this is because the way she enthasizes ‘Remember’ she does not want to be forgotten by someone she loves a lot.
If she didn’t love him she wouldn’t tell him to forget her, if it caused him great pain to remember.
This poem is similar to ‘When we two parted’ by Lord Byron because it shows the sadness of how the poet feels parted from his lover like also in ‘Remember.’
The poet in ‘When we two parted’ his feelings are more of anger and emotion towards his former lover.
‘When we two parted
In silence and tears,
Half broken –hearted
To sever for years.’ (Lines 1-4)
But the poet’s share their feelings are of loosing someone that was close to them or still is.
In ‘A woman to her lover’ their relationship seems that they have only been together for a short time and are learning more about each other as their relationship progresses.
This is shown in the poem, by the way the poet is telling him how she wants to be treated.
Whereas in ‘My last Duchess’ by Robert Browning, In the poem the Duke of Ferrara expects his wife to be his centre of attention and is jealous of anybody who comes near her.
These two poems have very different views of relationships,
The poet in ‘A woman to her lover’ feels she does not want to be the centre of attention towards her lover and wants their relationship to be equal.
‘Remember’ is a sonnet with 14 lines and is used to express feelings and emotion.
‘How do I love thee?’ is also a sonnet Written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and is a sequence of statements, claims and comparisons that seek to express the extent and quality of the feeling of love.
I feel that the two poems are quite similar because they both use a regular repetition e.g. in ‘Remember’ its remember me and in ‘How do I love thee’ I love thee is repeated many times.
I also notice that the context of words used in the two poems have a heavenly theme to express the poets emotions e.g. lines 3 –4 and 12 in ‘How do I love thee’.
‘My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace...
With my lost saints, - I love thee with the breath.’
Lines I-2 and 8 of ‘Remember’
‘ Remember me when I am gone away
Gone far away into the silent land...
It will be late to counsel or pray.’
It is shown that both poems use similar techniques to express their feelings.
To conclude the two poems that I have compared ‘Remember’ and a ‘Woman to her lover’ both show different feelings towards their lovers in ‘Remember’ it shows that she really loves her lover and their relationship is close.
In ‘A woman to her lover’ I feel that the writer probably had bad experiences with her past lover and does not want it to repeat itself, that is why she is so straightforward and cuts straight to the point, in the poem.
Their relationship is probably in its developing stages and I think it will last long if her lover thinks about how she wants to be treated.
Out of the two poems I can say I prefer ‘Remember by Christina Rossetti’, the reason I like it better is because its short, it cuts straight to the point in 14 lines, its very expressive and the feelings expressed are relateble, it is easy to understand and you know exactly what the poet is writing about.
The best line in the poem for me is the part in the poem where she thinks of her lover and asks him if it caused him to much pain to remember her then its better that he forget than remember her and be sad.
I feel that this line shows the depth of love she has for him and it must have been very painful to say that, knowing how much wants to be remembered by him.
The main points from ‘A woman to her lover’ is that I think she wants her lover to treat her with respect and for her not to be a ornament, some one who does not have any feelings.
She wants her feelings and thoughts to be acknowledged by her lover.
