Read the following lines from Christina Rossetti's poem "Song" (1862):
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.
In the final two lines, the parallel structure of the clauses ("And if thou wilt, remember, / And if thou wilt, forget") functions primarily to do which of the following?
- Areveal that the poet, Christina Rossetti, was experiencing deep personal grief when composing the poem
- Bsuggest a dramatic shift from a peaceful tone to one of bitter resentment
- stress the speaker's calm acceptance of either remembrance or oblivionAnswer
- Dimply that the speaker actively wants to be forgotten rather than remembered
- Eforce the reader to ignore the line breaks and read the stanza as prose
Answer
The parallel syntax stresses the speaker's calm acceptance of either remembrance or oblivion.
The parallel structure of the final two lines ('And if thou wilt, remember, / And if thou wilt, forget') creates a balanced grammatical layout. Because both options are introduced with the identical conditional clause 'And if thou wilt,' neither choice is privileged over the other. This syntax mirrors the speaker's state of calm indifference, indicating an equal willingness to be remembered or forgotten.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Analyzing how parallel syntactic structures and grammatical choices contribute to the meaning and tone of a poem.