Remember by Christina Rossetti is a poignant and emotionally powerful poem that reflects on the theme of death and the lasting impact that it has on those left behind. The poem is structured in three stanzas, with each stanza containing four lines of verse. The rhyme scheme of the poem is AABB, with the first and second lines of each stanza rhyming, and the third and fourth lines rhyming.
The first stanza of Remember begins with the title of the poem, "Remember," which serves as an imperative command to the reader to remember the speaker of the poem after their death. The speaker then goes on to describe how they will be gone and how the world will continue to turn without them, stating that "the world will be the same." This line serves to emphasize the idea that death is a natural and inevitable part of life, and that the world will go on without the speaker.
The second stanza of Remember focuses on the speaker's desire for their loved ones to remember them and to keep their memory alive. The speaker implores their loved ones to "think of times gone by," suggesting that by recalling happy memories of the past, they can keep the speaker's memory alive in a more tangible way. The speaker also asks their loved ones to "laugh as well as cry," implying that the speaker wants their loved ones to remember them with both joy and sadness, as both emotions are a natural part of the grieving process.
The final stanza of Remember shifts focus to the speaker's desire for their loved ones to live their own lives to the fullest, even in the face of their own mortality. The speaker urges their loved ones to "do good" and to "love and kiss," suggesting that the speaker wants their loved ones to find happiness and fulfillment in their own lives, even after the speaker's death. The final lines of the poem, "Forget not all his benefits," suggest that the speaker wants their loved ones to be grateful for the time they shared together and to remember the positive impact that the speaker had on their lives.
Overall, the structure of Remember by Christina Rossetti serves to reinforce the theme of death and the enduring impact that it has on those left behind. Through the use of rhyme, repetition, and imperative commands, Rossetti effectively conveys the speaker's desire for their loved ones to remember them and to find happiness and fulfillment in their own lives, even after the speaker's death.