”Song” by Christina Rossetti

Credit: www.magic4walls.com

A renowned poet, Christina Rossetti has a way of enchanting readers with her beautiful words and imagery.

Even in her poems about death, Rossetti crafted an enthralling and almost whimsical moment for her readers to step into.

This is especially true in her poem titled, “Song.” So often death is portrayed as dark and ominous; cruel and tragic. But Rossetti’s poem paints a different, more serene picture.

She writes, in the first verse:

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.

Perhaps referring to a lover, a family member or a friend, Rossetti tells her “dearest” not to worry when she (the writer) passes away. Don’t bother with the fanfare and the flowers, the tears and sad songs. There’s a nonchalance to the entire poem, “…if thou wilt, remember…if thou wilt, forget.” When she is no longer living, it won’t be her concern whether she’s forgotten or remembered. It feels as though she just wants those she leaves behind to be happy.

The second verse 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.

There is perhaps some morbidity in the idea that, once dead, a person will not see, feel or hear. But in Rossetti’s words, this afterlife seems peaceful, welcoming and worry-free. She won’t see shadows or feel the rain, both things typically associated with darkness and sadness. Words like dreaming and twilight imply a gentle beauty and create an aura of relaxation around death. Rossetti ends the second verse much as she ended the first, indicating that in death there will be relaxation, after a life lived in whatever capacity she chose.

Painting of Christina Rossetti
(Credit: www.bbs.co.uk)

In some ways, this is a simple poem, but it’s the simplicity and elegance of word choice that really give “Song” an emotional impact. This poem is, in some ways, reassuring, both for the dying but also for those she leaves behind. In Rossetti’s poem, death is not something to be scared of, nor something to mourn. There is an inevitability to death, but also a serenity that Rossetti captures flawlessly through her wording and the effortlessness of her message.