“Song (When I am dead, my dearest)” Summary

“Song (When I am dead, my dearest)” Themes

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  Love, Death, and Mourning

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Song (When I am dead, my dearest)”

• Lines 1-2

  When I am dead, my dearest,
  Sing no sad songs for me;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 3-6

  Plant thou no roses at my head,
  Nor shady cypress tree:
  Be the green grass above me
  With showers and dewdrops wet;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 7-8

  And if thou wilt, remember,
  And if thou wilt, forget.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-12

  I shall not see the shadows,
  I shall not feel the rain;
  I shall not hear the nightingale
  Sing on, as if in pain:

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-14

  And dreaming through the twilight
  That doth not rise nor set,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 15-16

  Haply I may remember,
  And haply may forget.

  

  

  

  

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“Song (When I am dead, my dearest)” Symbols

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  Roses and the Cypress Tree

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  Green Grass

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• 

  The Nightingale

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“Song (When I am dead, my dearest)” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Anaphora

  

  

  

  

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• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Imagery

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Allusion

  

  

  

  

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“Song (When I am dead, my dearest)” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Thou
• Cypress tree
• Dewdrops
• Wilt
• Nightingale
• Doth
• Haply

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Song (When I am dead, my dearest)”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Song (When I am dead, my dearest)” Speaker

“Song (When I am dead, my dearest)” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Song (When I am dead, my dearest)”

More “Song (When I am dead, my dearest)” Resources

• External Resources

  • The Poem Read Aloud — The poem as performed by Mairin O'Hagan.

  • Goblin Market — Scans of the second edition of Rossetti's collection Goblin Market, in which this poem originally appeared, from the British Library. 

  • Rosetti's Life and Work — A biography of Christina Rossetti and additional poems from the Poetry Foundation.

  • A Musical Arrangement of the Poem — "Song (When I am dead, my dearest)" as arranged by Saskia Kusrahadianti, one of many musical performances of the poem.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Christina Rossetti

  • A Birthday

  • An Apple Gathering

  • At Home

  • Babylon the Great

  • Cousin Kate

  • Echo

  • From the Antique

  • Good Friday

  • In an Artist's Studio

  • In the Round Tower at Jhansi, June 8, 1857 (Indian Mutiny)

  • Maude Clare

  • No, Thank You, John

  • Piteous my rhyme is

  • Remember

  • Shut Out

  • Sister Maude

  • Soeur Louise de la Miséricorde

  • Some ladies dress in muslin full and white

  • Twice

  • Up-Hill

  • Winter: My Secret