Rossetti's Attitudes Towards Death - Exam Question Plan

Explore the ways Rossetti presents attitudes towards death in 'Up-Hill' and other poems.

Up-Hill
In Up-Hill death, at least in pursuit of heaven, is viewed as a rest at the end of the long journey that is life.
Key Quotes:
'Will the day's journey take the whole long day?'
'Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?'
'Will there be beds for me and all who seek?'
'They will not keep you standing at that door'
'Of labour you shall find the sum.'
'Yea, beds for all who come.'

Song (When I am dead, my dearest)
In Song, the speaker is telling a loved one how they wish their death to be handled. It concentrates on a desire for as little cliché mourning as possible.
Key Quotes:
'Sing no sad songs for me;'
'Plant thou no roses at my head,'
'And if thou wilt remember, and if thou wilt forget'
'Haply I may remember, and haply may forget'

Remember
Remember takes the opposite stance to Soong, where the speaker begs for those left behind to remember them, however, as the poem goes on the voice changes to say how they don't mind if the bereaved forget.
Key Quotes:
'Remember me when I am gone away, gone far away into the silent land'
'Yet if you should forget me for a while and afterwards remember, do not grieve.'
'Better by far you should forget and smile than that you should remember and be sad.'

Echo
In echo, death is seen as something that soon becomes boring.
Key Quotes:
'... in Paradise, where souls brimfull of love abide and meet; where thirsting longing eyes watch the slow door that opening, letting in, lets out no more.

In the Round Tower at Jhansi
In this poem, death is viewed as a swift, merciful release when the characters are faced with a painful death otherwise.
Key Quotes:
"Kiss and kiss: 'It is not pain thus to kiss and die. One kiss more.'-'And yet one again.'-'Goodbye.'-'Goodbye.'