How do poets explore the subject of emotional attachments to different things and people in Remember by Christina Rossetti, Once Upon a time with ...

During the long journey of life, we experience many events that create deep impressions and effects that make us have an emotional attachment to them. The poems all have evident recurring themes of emotional attachment, whether it is to an object, a person or an idea. The selected poems comprises of distinctive features in which the persona is attached to their memory of the mother like DH Lawrence, while another such as Christina Rossetti wishes to be remembered by her lover. All the poems use imagery to express emotions, ranging from very aloof emotions, to the feeling of safety and comfort.

Remember, a sonnet written by Christina Rossetti. The octave focuses on the topic of remembering the persona after death; however the sestet contrasts, and focuses on forgetting instead. The octave has a distinct rhyme; nonetheless the rhyming alters in the sestet. The reason behind this may be because the persona rethinks her demand of remembering her and suddenly changes her reluctance and hesitation towards that theme of forgetting. The poem conveys her acceptance of death but also showcases the theme of emotional attachment to her lover as she expresses her strong desire to be remembered by him. She described the heaven as a “silent land” and the devil as “darkness and corruption”. The use of the metaphor “silent land” suggests a place with the absence of sound, which stresses loneliness and emptiness. Rossetti uses spiritual words and very vague words, for example “future” as she is unsure of the path that lies ahead. She also expresses her need for support through the use of spiritual diction such as “counsel and pray” that implies asking God for guidance and her attachment to the Holy Spirit. The poem also uses syntactic patterning o...

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In conclusion, the mood and meaning of the six poems are expressed through the selective use of diction. All poems use imagery to express their emotions on the their attachment to a person or a time period; these emotions range from feelings of detachment to the feeling of safety and comfort. The selective poems also use metaphors and similes to juxtapose the positive and negative connotations and use structures and rhyming schemes to compare the past and the present to emphasize on the theme of attachment. In closing, a sense of loss can be felt after a long period apart if one has an emotional attachment to a specific person or an attachment to an object. This compels us to appreciate them as they are and educate ourselves to treasure our love towards them; therefore I believe the emotional attachments to different times and people is a very important of study.