Read the following poem by Christina Rossetti (published in 1862) carefully:
(1) Remember me when I am gone away,
(2) Gone far away into the silent land;
(3) When you can no more hold me by the hand,
(4) Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
(5) Remember me when no more day by day
(6) You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
(7) Only remember me; you understand
(8) It will be late then to counsel or to pray.
(9) Yet if you should forget me for a while
(10) And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
(11) For if the darkness and corruption leave
(12) A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
(13) Better by far you should forget and smile
(14) Than that you should remember and be sad.
Which of the following best describes the development of the speaker's perspective over the course of the poem?
- AThe poet's personal confrontation with her terminal illness evolves into a generalized philosophical treatise on the necessity of mourning
- BA literal dread of physical decay within the 'silent land' transitions to a comforting belief in the speaker's own spiritual transcendence
- A persistent plea to dominate the addressee's memory of the past gives way to a compassionate release of the addressee from the burden of griefCevap
- DA static, unwavering expression of melancholy that remains emotionally unchanged from the octave through the sestet
- EA mechanical list of instructions for mourning that relies on religious ritual to resolve the speaker's fear of oblivion