If "Remember" is a "death" poem, it is just as much the opposite as well: a "life" poem. Remember that part in Jurassic Park where Malcolm says "life… finds a way"? Yeah, that could be totally be this poem's motto, and it is through the memory that life finds a way. It is through memory that things live on, even after they're dead and gone. The other side of the coin, however, is that that remembrance can be, well, really painful. If we have fond memories of somebody who has died, we can't remember them without also facing the fact that they are no longer with us.
Questions About Memory and the Past
- Does the speaker seem like one of those live-in-the-past types to you? Why or why not?
- Is the speaker serious when she tells her beloved that it is better to forget her?
- What is the effect of the repetition of the word "remember"?
- What do you think of the fact that the word "remember" can be read as "re-member," as in re-put-together? How might that be important for this poem?
Chew on This
Memory is so awesomely powerful that it can cheat death. The cost of that cheating, however, is intense pain; if the speaker's beloved keeps her alive in memory, after all, he will also be very sad.
Meh—sometimes it's just easier to let the past be the past, and move forward with our lives. This is the lesson the speaker learns, and accepts, by the end of the poem.