Silent Land

The silent land Rossetti mentions at the beginning of “Remember” represents the experience of departure into death. For Rossetti to represent death with the euphemistic term “silent land” contributes to her aims to normalize death as ironically part of lived experience (2). The silent land makes death seem as though it is merely a journey to another faraway, physicalized location. While this physicality does not necessarily make those who have entered the silent land any more accessible to those left behind, the symbol of a silent land does make death seem less abstract and, therefore, less frightening (3). In this way, then, the silent land also contributes to Rossetti’s compassionate and quietly comforting tone.

Prayer

Prayer, in Rossetti’s poem, represents religious rituals undertaken to memorialize a loved one. Interestingly, Rossetti denies the efficacy of prayer as a response to her future death – “Only remember me...