 Hello and welcome to a summary of all you need to know about the poem Remember by Christina Rosetti. I'll explain the meaning related to this poem as it appears in part 3 of the Pearson Edexcel International GCSE anthology. Do bear in mind that in contrast to part 1 of the anthology which featured only nonfiction texts and part 2 which was a mix of fiction short stories and poems. Part 3 of this anthology exclusively features poems alone so in this video I'll highlight key language and literary devices used by Rosetti and you'll learn how to analyse it. So let's get started. Now I will begin by reading through this poem, it's written in sonnet form in other words it's 14 line single stanza and then afterwards I will then point out important literary techniques and also contextual factors that you need to be aware of. Remember me when I'm gone far away into the silent land when you can no more hold me by the hand nor I have turned to go yet turning to stay. Remember me when no more by day you tell me of our future that you planned 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 I once had better by far you should forget and smile than that you should remember and be sad. Now this poem has a really interesting title remember so as I mentioned before it's about remembrance and the poem itself in terms of the form it's written in is it's written as a Petrarchan sonnet in other words it's written using iambic pentameter and it's a really particular type of sonnet which we call Petrarchan sonnet because it has an a b b a rhyme scheme in the first four lines then again a b b a in the following four lines and then in the cester it's c d d and then e c e so this is why we call it Petrarchan sonnet because it has a very particular rhyme scheme now contextually speaking do bear in mind that Rosetti Christina Rosetti herself the poet wrote this poem as a 19 year old teenager and do remember that not only was she very religious but actually she never had a romantic marriage in her life she engaged in a few relationships which did end however she never actually married in the end now when we look at line number one remembering when I'm gone away now the repetition of the title remember shows that the speaker within this poem is really anxious about being remembered by their lover now the whole line remember me when I'm gone away what this again emphasizes the speaker is really fearful that the lover may forget them once they die furthermore the repetition of gone focuses on the death and distance that is making this speaker really really anxious that once they pass away the lover will forget about them now the reference to gone away again in line one this is a euphemism for death so the speaker is contemplating on whether the lover will remember them once they die now the reference to the silent land in line two this personification of the land being silenced what this shows is that there's a vast boundary between life and death and the speaker feels a lot of anxiety that once they have passed away the lover will stay in the present life and move on now the speaker states when you can no more hold me by the hand and the pronoun here she is addressing her lover using the second person pronoun furthermore they state you can no more hold me by the hand now the iteration here of age shows her emphasis on the romantic love and the companionship that she really craves from this person but also she recognizes that she's never going to be able to give them this sense of companionship once that she passes away now in line four she says no I have turned to go yet turning to stay this is oxymoron because what this is showing is a speaker feels really conflicted about this process of death and how their lover will cope once they die now line five they repeat remember and this is repeated again in line seven and then in line 10 now this is an aphora and this an aphoric reference is a constant imperative it's ordering their lover you have to remember me you have to remember me even once I die now back to line five when no more day by day now this repetition essentially refers to the daily life the mundane aspects of daily life however what the speaker is saying here is that even as you settle back into normal regular existence once I've passed away you need to keep on remembering me now in line six she states you tell me of the future that you'd planned now what she's doing here she's thinking of her lover's promises about the future and in many ways this is almost encapsulating the passive Victorian woman do you remember that Christina Rossetti lived during the Victorian era and she's encapsulating here the notion of the angel of the house the woman who looks after the household who is the perfect angel of the house and her lover essentially is the one that plans the future and so she's alluding to this and essentially saying you're telling me of our future I still want that future to continue even if I'm not around on the following sentence as to zero that's used here only remember me and this is your shows that the speaker is pausing to emphasize the importance of him remembering her now she then states it will be late to counsel then or pray so here we sense that the speaker has a change of tone then this change of tone is further added when she states in line nine yet if she should forget me for a while now this we could argue is the Volta in the poem the turning point because actually she seems to actually change her mind about being really emphatic for her lover to remember her moreover the conditional clause if she's thinking if my lover forgets me would I be okay with that and it seems actually that she's changed her mind because she states if you should forget me for a while now this is an oxymoron to remember because she's now starting to recognize that maybe her lover might forget her and she's now becoming at peace with that furthermore then Jean-Pierre Montier speeds up the pace of the poem in line nine and it shows the speaker's acceptance of maybe being forgotten when she passes away moreover in line 10 she's tells the person do not grieve she tells her lover don't grieve actually and this imperative sentence is a slight shift because she's essentially saying actually I've changed my mind maybe don't be caught up too much in the past in the following line the darkness and corruption leave so the reference to darkness and corruption these are negative dark terms that refer to mourning perhaps the speaker here is now realizing that she doesn't want her lover to really mourn her to you excessively once she's passed away then she states better by far you should forget and smile so there's a shift a complete 360 in tone here because it seems like this speaker doesn't want the lover's life to stop once they've died they've become quite reconciliatory in fact if anything she's now encouraging them to forget about her once she dies smile and perhaps even move on and even possibly find another wife moreover there's the oxymoron forget and remember in the following line and what this shows is that the speaker will not feel resentful if the lover moves on moreover the sibilance and the oxymoron smile in contrast to sad once more the speaker shows her acceptance that she's okay with their lover moving on so that's all if you found this video useful do you know that we have an in-depth extensive course covering all the texts and poems in Parts 1, 2 and 3 of the Pearson Edexcel International GCSE anthology so make sure you sign up for this course for explanations on all the texts as well as model answers. Also make sure you check out our website which is www.firstreadcheters.com where you will find plenty of English revision worksheets, model answers and online courses covering all the major English syllabuses including Edexcel, AQA and IGCSE. Thank you so much for watching.