Christina Rossetti - Rest

REST
by: Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

EARTH, lie heavily upon her eyes;

Seal her sweet eyes weary of watching, Earth;

Lie close around her; leave no room for mirth

With its harsh laughter, nor for sound of sighs.

She hath no questions, she hath no replies,

Hush'd in and curtain'd with a blessèd dearth

Of all that irk'd her from the hour of birth;

With stillness that is almost Paradise.

Darkness more clear than noonday holdeth her,

Silence more musical than any song;

Even her very heart has ceased to stir:

Until the morning of Eternity

Her rest shall not begin nor end, but be;

And when she wakes she will not think it long.

• REST - euphamism of death?
• Sleep- similar to dying until you wake up.
• PEACE in death/rest - 'Hush'd in and curtain'd with a blessed dearth of all that irk'd her from the hour of birth.'
• TENDER- 'sweet eyes', 'holdeth her', 'blessed dearth'
• 'Harsh laughter' - out of place, peaceful. No true emotion. Resting from emotion and feeling. Any kind of emotion breaks this peace and takes her out of the resting trance.
• 'Paradise' and 'Darkness' , 'Eternity' capitalised : we reach paradise when at peace/death/resting. Heaven? Religion? Sense of timelessness. Everlasting state.
• All problems leave us in this state - 'Hush'd in and curtain'd with a blessed dearth of all that irk'd her from the hour of birth.'
• Rest/death is better than life itself?
• FORM/STRUCTURE: Like a PRAYER or LULLABY.
• 'th' creates a soft sound, hushed + peaceful.
• 'ceased to stir' , 'holdeth her' - idea of her being protected in this state. Safe and neutral. 'Darkness' acts as a shield to her.
• 'Her rest shall not begin nor end, but be' - living within the moment. treasuring.
• ENJAMBMENT - (continues sentence on next line) Similar to HARDY.
• 'Dearth' - lack of

Christina Rossetti

Remember

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.

FORM: Plain shape. Simple form, simple statement. Like loving remembering words on headstone.

STRUCTURE: Alternate rhyme scheme

LANGUAGE: loving, tender, peaceful 'silent', 'smile', 'hold by hand', future that you plann'd' and 'turning stay' shows reluctance to leave.

remember when she is 'gone' - euphamism of death?

CONTRAST: between Thomas Hardy's 'Your Last Drive' - 'You may miss me then. But I shall not know how many times you visit me there.' , 'I shall not care'- Emma wants Hardy to feel guilty- contrast to how Rossetti wants her reader to feel NOT guilty: 'Yet if you forget me for a while and afterwards remember me, do not grieve.'

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

COME NOT WHEN I AM DEAD

Come not, when I am dead,
To drop thy foolish tears upon my grave,
To trample round my fallen head,
And vex the unhappy dust thou wouldst not save.
There let the wind sweep and the plover cry;
But thou, go by.
Child, if it were thine error or thy crime
I care no longer, being all unblest:
Wed whom thou wilt, but I am sick of Time,
And I desire to rest.
Pass on, weak heart, and leave me where I lie:
Go by, go by.

Two stanzas
No set syllables except for lines 5 and 11 (ten syllables) and 6 and 12 (four syllables)
A B A B C C
D E D E C C
Last line of each stanza repeats 'Go by' like an echo

The writer of the poem states that upon his death, he wishes not to be mourned by someone who is most likely a lover or a child of theirs. He emphasises the lack of caring for the mortal world after they have passed (similar to 'Friends Beyond' theme - Thomas Hardy), and there is a stress on moving on from the inevitability of another person's death. Indeed, he even states that in a sense, he will be glad to pass eventually, for he is 'tired' of the physical world which he seems to describe as being something quite petty.

If this is the author talking to a lover:
'Child' implies an innocence at heart, and also a youth, but in the context of the poem would suggest a foolishness and naivety. Furthermore he calls her 'weak heart', suggesting that he thinks of her as very fragile and weepy for being the sort to mourn his death. These expectations seem unreasonable, and even patronising, although he clearly means them in her best interest.
If the author is in fact talking about his son or daughter:
The father is growing old, as he is 'sick of Time'. The phrase 'Wed whom thou wilt' is indicative of the times, where a father's permission was required to marry.

Regardless, the authoritative tone in the piece is clear. 'Wed whom thou wilt' is an imperative sentence – that is, it is a command, spoken in this case as a permission. He never uses an interrogative sentence (a question). The use of the word 'child' also emphasises this, as he places himself as the subject's senior. He also uses direct language, and avoids euphemisms, using the word 'death' without softening it to something such as 'passed'. This may be his attempt to be directly understood, or may be his attempt to show his lack of fear to the reader.

Still, it is clear that he cares for the person whom he is writing about, or at least that the person cares for him. He hazards them not to drop 'foolish tears' on his grave. This implies that he does not wish for them to mourn, Although his tone is a little harsh, using negative words such as 'foolish', 'sick', 'unhappy' and virtually no positive language, the word 'child' indicates some level of endearment, and looking deeper we can see an old man afraid not of death, but of the grieving of his loved ones when he dies.