Remember me when I am gone away, / Gone far away into the silent land
-- Speaker (Rossetti) (Lines 1-2)

Importance: These lines that open “Remember” establish the first-person singular speaker, the “I,” that Rossetti lyrically uses to refer to herself throughout the body of her poem. At the same time, these lines use the plainspoken, everyday language that Rossetti maintains throughout. The opening also emphasize one of the main themes of “Remember” and Rossetti’s devotional poetry as a whole: death. Notably though, the quotidian, understated, and euphemistic language in which she describes her own death (“Gone far away into the silent land”) already hints at her efforts to normalize death and incorporate it into the mere experience of daily living.

Remember me when no more day by day / You tell me of our future that you plann’d: / Only remember me; you understand / It will be late to counsel then or pray
-- Speaker (Rossetti) (Lines 5-8)

Importance: These lines reveal...