Poetry Anthology – Revision Session 3 Remember Sonnet 116

13.4.16 Wednesday Poem at 39 20.4.16 Wednesday Piano/The Tyger 27.4.16 Wednesday Remember/Sonnet 116 4.5.16 Wednesday Telephone Conversation 11.5.16 Wednesday Mother in a Refugee Camp 18.5.16 Wednesday If 25.5.16 Wednesday Do Not Go Gentle

Themes (links) Love Family War Memories Hopes for the future Racism Childhood Conflict Parent and child Close relationship Images of Behaviour Hopes and fears Tell stories Death Life Childhood Memories People Pain and suffering Thoughts and feelings

Quatrain 1 Remember me when I am gone away, The focus of the poem is the opening word. We will explore the idea of memory. Repeated but strengthened suggesting the finality of death 1st person focus Remember me when I am gone away, Gone far away into the silent land; When you can no more hold me by the hand, Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay. euphemism 2nd character introduced

Quatrain 2 Remember me when no more day by day Reinforces the subject under discussion Quatrain 2 Remember me when no more day by day You tell me of our future that you planned: Only remember me; you understand It will be late to counsel then or pray. 2nd character seems to be controlling – not nec bad thing Consider : why are these words set in opposition? What is suggested? Not asking much – no need to memorialise

After the VOLTA Yet if you should forget me for a while Highlights a new direction of thought 1st part of conditional sentence Yet if you should forget me for a while And afterwards remember, do not grieve: For if the darkness and corruption leave A vestige of the thoughts that once I had, Better by far you should forget and smile Than that you should remember and be sad. Imperative: strength Conditional is completed. The poem has totally changed direction.

IDEAS? LOVE AND LOSS Attitudes to love Compare with sonnet 116. Here love should include allowing a partner to forget… a kindness. Shakespeare will suggest that love lasts until “the edge of doom”. Nature of the relationship – the 2nd character is controlling. Does the first voice complain or simply comment? Find links with other poems in the anthology…

Themes? Love Death All About Remember is about the poet addressing her beloved and asking him to remember her after her death. She does give him her permission to forget her towards the end of them poem. Memories Message To celebrate love and life rather than grieve for it. Fade Feelings of the speaker/voice/character Acceptance of death A deep and eternal love for her husband She wants her husband to be happy even if this means forgetting her Like Language – poetic techniques – that link to the theme(s) ‘silent land’ = personification/metaphor – death ‘our future that you had planned’ = direct address – love ‘forget and smile’ = oxymoron = the real meaning of love Soft Structure Repeated word ‘remember’ First octave (8 lines) tone of contemplation and the past The volta (change in the sonnet) offers a different tone – she wants him to remember her Rainbows Reader response True love is eternal If you love someone you want them to be able to love someone else if you should part

Shakespeare says that love is constant and unchanging through any difficulties. In line six, love is compared to the north star and Shakespeare says that love will not fade but will last forever. Marriage of true minds is a metaphor for people who get on well intellectually. love is timeless. The edge of doom refers to the religious notion of doomsday.

Imagery “wandering bark” “Tempests” are violent and windy storms. This suggests that love is challenging.

Themes? Love All About Sonnet 116 is about love in its truest form. He believes that love is built on understanding and trust. Memories Message That true love should be able to withstand any problem and that the couple should be able to do this together. Fade Feelings of the speaker/voice/character He feels that love should be built on trust He feels that true love is almost unbreakable Like Language – poetic techniques – that link to the theme(s) ‘which alters when alteration finds’ = love ‘it is the star’ = metaphor ‘the edge of doom’ = religious reference/metaphor Soft Structure Sonnet Repetition A journey through the relationship Rainbows Reader response Love is something that should be easy, that it should be fair. True love is a meeting of minds rather than just an attraction.