Death is the one, unavoidable truth of life, and those who have a loved one will one day have to accept that they must survive the death of others throughout their lives. “Remember” by Christina Rossetti and “The Cross of Snow” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow both feature narrators who must face the reality of death. Although the narrator of “Remember” wishes to live beyond the grave through the memories of his loved ones, he accepted that they could move on so as not to continue to burden them from beyond the grave; the narrator of "The Snow Cross", however, is unable to move forward after the death of his loved one. These strong characterizations in exploring the grieving process can be seen in the way the respective poets wrote the poems. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The poets in each poem skillfully use a unique rhyme scheme to further their goal in developing their characters' grieving process. In "Remember" by Christina Rossetti, the rhyme scheme is that in lines 2 through 7, each line rhymes with the one next to it. This emphasized how the narrator, presumably dying early, does not want to be forgotten after his death, as having every other line rhyme with the next line made it seem as if they were attached to each other and refused to let go. The narrator pleads with the audience to "remember me" in these lines. However, this pattern ends after the narrator accepts his death and that his loved ones can move on, and there is a sense of closure by having the first line of this acceptance, line 8, rhyme with the first line of the poem. Next, there are gaps in the rhyme scheme, such as line 9 not having a line to rhyme with until line 13 as well as line 12 having 14. This increasing distance between rhyme pairs may represent the process of going forward after accepting death, and by moving forward, there may finally be space between the gaps that the narrator had wanted to hold on to. A similar technique is also used in "The Cross of Snow" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, in which line 1 rhymes with line 8, and through lines 2 to 7, each line rhymes with the one next to it, as if there it was a sense of attachment. and the refusal to move on after the death of the narrator's loved one. This parallels the rhyme scheme technique used by the narrator of "Remember", as both narrators initially wanted to endure after death. However, unlike the narrator of “Remember,” the narrator of “The Cross of Snow” continues to refuse to let go as lines 9 through 11 rhyme with lines 12 through 14 in order. Even though the rhymes are three lines apart each since there is indeed a distance, the rhymes are still orderly and systematic, revealing that the narrator recognizes that his beloved has been dead for "eighteen years", but since then time has become " immutable" and did not move forward. Another technique used to develop the different grieving process in the two poems is the choice of words. In “Remember” by Christina Rossetti, images are used to describe an atmosphere of remembrance. The narrator describes, when he wants to be remembered, that he wants to be remembered “day by day” after it is too late to “counsel or pray.” Conversely, however, when the narrator is willing to let the audience move on, he does so in the hopes of not leaving “darkness and corruption” behind. Daylight contrasts with darkness, as do the connotations behind advice and prayer with corruption. This contrast helps to increase the transition from the desire to.
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