Christina Rossetti: Poems of Memory and Humility

Christina Rossetti, age 18

Christina Rossetti: Poems of Memory and Humility

Christina Rossetti (1830–1894) is one of the most beloved devotional poets in the English tradition. A woman of deep Christian faith, she wrote with simplicity, tenderness, and unflinching honesty about both human grief and divine hope. In this post, we will look at two of her poems — “Remember” and “The Lowest Place” — to see how Rossetti’s words still speak into our own longing for consolation and our call to humility in Christ* .(4BC -30AD)

An asterisk* after a name means that person is in my book SPIRITUAL LIVES.

“Remember”

Remember me when I am gone away,

Gone far away into the silent land;

When you can no more hold me by the hand,

Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.

Remember me when no more day by day

You tell me of our future that you planned:

Only remember me; you understand

It will be late to counsel then or pray.

Yet if you should forget me for a while

And afterwards remember, do not grieve:

For if the darkness and corruption leave

A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,

Better by far you should forget and smile

Than that you should remember and be sad.

This sonnet is often read at funerals and gravesides. It is the voice of one who knows she will be separated from her beloved, asking not to be forgotten. Yet the second half of the poem surprises us: Rossetti places mercy above memory, insisting that love does not demand grief.

Her words echo Paul’s* (5-67) comfort: “that you sorrow not, even as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him” (1 Thessalonians 4:13–14). Christian remembrance is not bound to sadness; it carries the brightness of resurrection hope.

“The Lowest Place”

Give me the lowest place: not that I dare

Ask for that lowest place, but Thou hast died

That I might live and share

Thy glory by Thy side.

Give me the lowest place: or if for me

The lowest place too high, make one more low

Where I may sit and see

My God and love Thee so.

In contrast to “Remember” with its meditation on human grief, “The Lowest Place” is a prayer of humility. Rossetti echoes Jesus’ parable in Luke 14:10 — “Friend, go up higher” — as she seeks to take the seat of least honor, trusting the Lord to lift her according to His will.

This short, piercing poem embodies the heart of discipleship: to desire not prominence but presence with Christ. It recalls Paul’s* words in Philippians 2:5–8, where Jesus “made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant … and humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

Conclusion

Together, these two poems display Rossetti’s depth as a Christian poet. “Remember” teaches us to face death with gentle hope, while “The Lowest Place” invites us to live with humble devotion. In both, the love of Christ shines through — the One who conquers the grave and who calls us to follow Him in meekness.

As Rossetti herself lived, so may we live: remembering with hope, and choosing the lowest place at the feet of our Savior.

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Read more Christian poetry at our blog: https://www.kenkalis.com/blog

When I was 29, my father died just after we had spoken on the phone.

• Later that year, my best friend Jeffrey died.

• Then my 17-year-old niece was killed in a boating accident.

• They were all buried in Hazelwood Cemetery, and I would visit them on Sundays after church.

These poems comforted me in my distress and drew me back to Jesus. May they do that for you too.