Write a brief note on the theme(s)of the poem 'when I am dead my dearest'.
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Explanation:
Christina Rossetti's "When I Am Dead, My Dearest" is the speaker's message to her beloved. She tells the beloved that he should not be sad and need not remember her because as she will be dead, she may or may not even know what he is doing in the land of the living.
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What is the theme of the poem "When I Am Dead, My Dearest"?
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ESTER BAUMGARTNER, PH.D. eNotes educator | CERTIFIED EDUCATOR
Christina Rossetti's "When I Am Dead, My Dearest" is the speaker's message to her beloved. She tells the beloved that he should not be sad and need not remember her because as she will be dead, she may or may not even know what he is doing in the land of the living.
The first stanza reads,
When I am dead, my dearest,
Sing no sad songs for me;
Plant thou no roses at my head,
Nor shady cypress tree:
Be the green grass above me
With showers and dewdrops wet;
And if thou wilt, remember,
And if thou wilt, forget. (1-8)
Here, the speaker tells her "dearest" not to "sing . . . sad songs" or leave flowers at her grave. She says that if he wants to remember her, he can, but if doesn't want to remember her, he can also forget her. Lines 7 and 8 basically tell the beloved that he can do whatever he wants after she is dead. This may seem cold or heartless, but it could also mean that the speaker cares about the beloved and wants him to continue to live his life as he sees fit.
In the second and final stanza, the speaker continues,
I shall not see the shadows,
I shall not feel the rain;
I shall not hear the nightingale
Sing on, as if in pain:
And dreaming through the twilight
That doth not rise nor set,
Haply I may remember,
And haply may forget. (9-16)
The speaker here repeats three things she "shall not" experience once she is dead and in her grave. She will not longer have human sensory experiences; therefore, she will know nothing of what people do at her grave. She will instead be "dreaming through the twilight" that has no end. She might "remember" or she might "forget." The afterlife is unknown to her. She does not want her beloved to devote so much time and energy mourning her if she does not even know that she will be aware of it in her afterlife.
, and whether they are remembered or not. In this poem, death is looked upon positively, as suggested by the adverb "haply," which indicates the speaker has reached a position of acceptance of her imminent death and she is almost looking forward to the peace it will give her.