These two poems contrast in several ways one of these is that these two quotes are similar “Remember me when no more day by day” and “To have soon “scaped worlds” and flesh’s rage, and, if no other misery, yet age?” The quote from remember saying “Remember me when no more day by day” this can refer to my other poem because the father has just lost his child so he will be remembering him more and more each day as he thinks that it is his fault that he has been taken from him.
Remember can be read as a first or a third person narrative as you can’t tell if she is writing/reading the poem or if someone else is reading it. It has many interpretations. The first being the easiest to grasp; this is the death of a person and what she wants when she dies “When you can no longer hold me by the hand.” This makes the reader instantly think of death, as when you are dead you can no longer touch some one. This quote can also be interpreted as the death of a relationship, when you propose to marry some one you can ask them for their hand in marriage this is why I think that this poem can also be thought of death of a relationship. Another way I viewed this poem is of the decay of love “Gone far away into the silent land.” This implies that the love has “gone far away into the silent land” Then she uses the word “Far” this shows how the love has died not just slightly but has completely gone never to be found again. The word “silent” I think this shows that they are not talking any more; this is where I got the idea that this poem is about the death of love.
On my first son is my second poem; it is a first person narrative. This is a poem about a man who thinks he has loved his son too much and has been punished with the death of his son “My sin was too much hope of thee lov’d boy.” This contrasts with Remember because Remember is talking about the death of the Author and her thoughts and beliefs. This poem is about the death of a child and the thoughts and beliefs of a parent. In the period of time, which this was written, is that the first person in someone’s life was god and the offspring came second to god as they thought that children were the gift from God. “Seven years thou went lent to me, and I thee pay.” This tells us his son was lent to him by God seven years ago and now he has taken him back.
Remembers rhyming pattern is irregular. This creates a more staggered or staccato(This is a musical term for when the rhythm is irregular and jumpy) rhythm .There is rhythm in the poem which comes from the feet and metre. Each line of the poem consists of ten syllables, five unstressed and five stressed. This is an example of Iambic Pentameter and is repeated throughout the poem “Re mem ber me when I am gone a way” (the bold indicates stressed syllables of which there are five.) This effects the poem because this adds more emphasis to certain words within the poem, such as the last two syllables in the word “re-mem-ber.” This is important, as this is what Christina Rossetti wanted from the poem to be remembered.
On My First Son’s rhyming pattern is regular. Having the rhyming couplets adjacent to each other creates smooth or legato (this is a musical term which means the rhythm of the music flows smoothly) rhythm throughout the poem. Again, the rhythm in this poem is made up of ten syllables, five unstressed and five stressed. This again is another example of Iambic Pentameter and this is repeated throughout the poem. “Fare well thou child of my right hand and joy” (the bold indicates stressed syllables of which there are five)
Remember, is a first person narrative poem because it uses words such as I and Me. The narrator is talking about herself and it is not talking about some one else. For example, “Remember me when I am gone away.” As you can see clearly she is talking about herself, this shows that this is a first person narrative.
On My First Son, is also a first person narrative poem as the poet uses words such as me and me. For example, “Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I lov’d boy.” The narrator in this poem is also talking about himself as you can see. Although both poems are in first person and talk about death and loss does not mean that their emotions will be the same. The fist poem, Remember, the character is saying how she does not want people to grieve over her death. In complete contrast to my second poem, On My First Son, the character is dwelling over the loss of his son and questioning about why he was taken from him. You can think that maybe the narrator in Remember is the lost child and the narrator in my second poem On My First Son is the grieving father who was told not to.
There are only a few voices that the poet gets across to me in Remember. The voice I feel is one of the most important is sympathy as she is sympathetic not for herself but for her family as she pleads with her family not to grieve when she dies. “And afterwards remember, do not grieve.” She is also passionate in the same way that she is sympathetic, as she really wants them to do what she says. Furthermore, I think that this is what she wants to be read at her funeral, so that the family would try not to grieve, as they will remember what she has said to them
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My First Son, the voices can be considered completely opposite to Remembers as the voices in this poem are about not remembering but almost about forgetting that the child has died but trying to reason why the child died at such a young age. Also could be viewed as being very similar. Firstly, you can hear a voice of grief of the opening lines of On My First Son. “Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy” This is similar to Remember, as the family in Remember, will grieve for the future loss in their family. Another Voice that can be viewed as a disheartened voice. “My sin was too much hope of thee, lov’d boy” This is completely the opposite but also so similar to Remember, as it makes you feel happy in the way that he obviously loved his son so much. In remember she is talking about how much she loves her partner and how much she doesn’t want him to grieve for her. There is another sense of irony as if you were her partner, you would obviously grieve for them and if you then heard that, they didn’t want you to grieve for them you would feel disheartened at the fact that she thinks so low of herself and maybe unloved.
Remember, uses a few different poetic devices, for example she echo’s the words Remember and Me through out the poem. “Only remember me; you understand” She does this because, she is trying to get the main point of her poem across to the reader. She also uses an oxymoron in her poem. “Yet if you should forget me for a while, and afterwards remember, do not grieve” This makes us almost reread those two lines to check what she has written, this again adds emphasis to the word remember again as she is talking about forgetting and remember. But if you truly forget some one you wouldn’t be able to remember again. The mood or tone of this poem is somewhat upsetting to think that this woman obviously very upset at this moment in her life as she maybe found out that she only had a short while to live. So she wants to be remembered for her good qualities and doesn’t want people to feel sadness when they think of her and just the nice happy times.
On My First Son, also uses poetic devices such as internal rhymes are used, this is when rhyming is used within the line rather than at the end. “Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay” (Bold indicates rhyming words)
To conclude, I find that I enjoyed talking and analysing Remember rather than On My First Son because it uses many more poetic devices, which make this more exciting to read. Remember a poem either about death or a relationship or her actual death makes you reflect on how you would like to be remembered when you are gone.
“Remember me when I am gone away”