# Rappelle-Toi explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Henry van Dyke Jr..

## What happens

A poetic meditation on remembrance and enduring love, rendered from Alfred de Musset's French original. The speaker implores a beloved to remember them through all seasons of life—dawn, night, joy, sorrow, and even after death—promising that true love transcends absence, time, and the grave.

## Themes in this chapter

### Love and Sacrifice

The speaker's loyal love persists through separation, sorrow, and death, culminating in a soul that lingers to recite a litany of love.

### Grief and Memory

The entire poem is structured around the act of remembering, from the 'timid light' of dawn to the 'cool, dark tomb,' emphasizing memory as a bridge across loss.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown

The speaker who addresses the beloved with a plea to remember.

### Vera

Implied beloved addressed as 'thee' and 'thou' throughout the poem.

## Key lines

> Remember, when the timid light Through the enchanted hall of dawn is gleaming; Remember, when the pensive night Beneath her silver-sprinkled veil walks dreaming;

Recall me at dawn's first gentle glow and at night's quiet, starry dreaming.

_The speaker asks to be remembered in both the hopeful morning and the reflective evening._

> Think of my loyal love, my last adieu; Absence and time are naught, if we are true;

Remember my faithful love and final farewell; distance and years mean nothing if we remain faithful.

_The speaker asserts that true love conquers separation and the passage of time._

> Ah then, my face thou nevermore shalt see, But still my soul will linger close to thee, And in the holy place of night, The litany of love recite⁠— Remember!

Though you will never see my face again, my spirit will stay near you, whispering a prayer of love in the sacred night—remember!

_Even after death, the speaker's soul remains devoted, reciting a litany of love in the darkness._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_10_se/chapters/rappelle-toi
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_10_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_10_se/chapters