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.