The poem is a message from a dying woman to her lover, asking them not to mourn her death or plant symbols of grief at her grave. She says she will no longer see or feel the natural world, but may remember or forget her past life in the unchanging twilight of death. The summary highlights the poem's discussion of death and remembrance as well as its unconventional message from a woman to her lover.

1. POETRY EXAM
PREPARATION
SONG
Christina Georgina
Rossetti (1830-1894)
L.O: To gain a clear understanding of the
literary and linguistic features of this poem.

2. SONG
Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894)
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.
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.
...

3. OVERVIEW/CONTEXT
 Context - ’the high priestess of Pre-Raphaelitism’
Song is a poem in two verses about not wanting to be
mourned and the uncertainty of death and memory.
 Content – A person’s message to their lover for when
they die, saying how they want their partner to
live/act once they have died. Unusual as she reverses
the traditional; male message to a female lover.
 Audience – Her lover who she will be leaving, anyone
who has suffered a loss.
 Purpose – To possibly advise others of how to act in
such times, support them and express feelings.

4. FORM
Poem splits into two halves – the first half imploring her lover not to mourn
her loss however the second half goes even further against traditional
views as she shows that actually the female is distanced anyway from her
lover.
Statement Evidence Analysis
Simple lyric
poem in two
octets
parenthesis: 'my dearest'
first person
address
rhythm in octets: (7,6,8,6 / 7,6,7,6)
end stopped 'And if thou wilt,
lines with remember'
colons,
caesuras:

5. SYNTAX
Statement Evidence Analysis
Imperatives 'Sing', 'Plant',
throughout 'remember',
first octet 'forget'
parallel syntax (lines 7 and 8 /
lines 15 and 16)
with end focus 'remember',
on same 'forget'
stative verbs:
Declarative 'I shall not
throughout see…'
second octet

6. LEXIS
Statement Evidence Analysis
First person pronoun ‘I’
archaic second person 'thou'
address
vocative 'my dearest'
prepositions 'above', 'at' anticipate burial
lexical set of nouns which 'shadows',
characterise the speaker's 'rain',
dislocation with mortal 'nightingale',
world: 'twilight'
juxtaposition of stative 'remember',
verbs: 'forget',
modal verbs 'shall', 'may'
archaic adverb 'haply’ perhaps / maybe

7. IMAGERY
Statement Evidence Analysis
Symbolism: Cypress tree in Greek mythology, the cypress tree
is associated with grief and mourning;
nightingale the nightingale, which sings in the
second octet, is symbolic of
melancholy, loss and death.
pathetic fallacy showers,
dewdrops and
rain
metaphor: 'twilight that Death is a constant. No new day
doth not rise nor
set'.

8. PHONOLOGY AND ORTHOGRAPHY
Statement Evidence Analysis
Repeated 'forget’
fricative
sibilant 'sad songs'
alliteration:
gutturals 'green grass'
plosive: 'pain'