Song (when I am dead, my dearest) -Aged 18 Engaged to james collinson

To what extent do you agree that in rossetti’s poetry these is ‘an awareness of and resistance to…social and political expectations’ (avery).

A Reversal of Roles in Song: When I am Dead my Dearest by Angela Kim Erotic love and its tragic loss acted as a theme that often engrossed the members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Not only did this theme pervade the drawings and the paintings of the PRB, but it also saturated the literary works of PRB poets, such as Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Though both these poetic and visual works often employed female subjects as in Ophelia by Sir John Everett Millais and "The Blessed Damozel" by Rossetti, the works "clearly embod[ied] male vantage points" (Landow). However, in "Song," Christina Rossetti rejects the traditional male role as the speaker and uses a female voice to narrate her poem and articulate her thoughts on the theme of love. By employing the female voice, Christina Rossetti makes it clear that she wants to break away from her brother's as well as other Pre-Raphaelites' visions of love and offer a different perspective. The first half of the poem appears to reflect the PRB's idealized notion of women who pine for their beloveds as the female narrator begs her lover not to be distressed by her death: The poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti describes the damozel observing her lover from heaven, and her unfulfilled yearning for their reunion in heaven. Published in 1850 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. O = unstressed / = stressed

These lines, however, prove to be misleading These lines, however, prove to be misleading. As the poem progresses, it becomes apparent that its meaning does not follow traditional male notions of the ideal woman. Rather, the woman distances herself from the possible love that she may have shared with her partner while on earth in sharp contrast with the grief-stricken woman in "The Blessed Damozel" by her brother, Dante Rossetti. 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.