Remember or Forget Me

Christina Rossetti's poem Song is simultaneously beautiful and grim. The beauty rests within her imagery and haunting words while death is a rather grim topic to address. Nevertheless, Rossetti does a wonderful job of it.

The poem opens with the line:
"When I am dead, my dearest
        Sing no sad songs for me;"
and from that moment forward it is obvious that she is not afraid of death. Rossetti's religious background would leave her at peace with her eventual demise while many others would wish to never be forgotten once they are gone.

"And if thou wilt, remember,
        And if thou wilt, forget." Means that if you decide to think on me when I am gone then you may, but you are welcome to forget me as well. It's so strange to see someone as content with dying as Rossetti, especially when most poetry about death is about the narrator wishing to defy the inevitable.

The Death of an Era

Dover Beach begins with the depiction of a calm sea, something that I would normally associate with serenity, but this is not the same for Matthew Arnold. While reading this selection I did a bit of research on the time period, and what I found changed the meaning from a gentle relaxed vision of waves caressing the shore to a cynical piece about the loss of traditions. During the time of 1865 the Industrial Revolution ruled London, and with this brought about a drastic change from centuries of simple country living to that of harsh living in the big city. With this change from the country to the city many of the past traditions are being forgotten and replaced for new ones, and among those are religious beliefs.