Forgetfulness

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1990

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Symbols & Motifs

The Author

In “Forgetfulness,” the author figure represents connection to creative forces and the beginning of the aging process. Collins mentions him in the first stanza, writing, “The name of the author is the first to go” (Line 1). The line is perhaps self-referential, as Collins may be writing about his own worries that people will forget his writing. The author in the poem is also the inciting incident, the first memory loss that triggers a cascade of realization: Forgetting is inevitable. The author also represents the speaker’s fear that the author has little value to his readers. As the “first to go” (Line 1), all of the other elements of the book (the title, plot, conclusion, etc.) last a little bit longer in the “you” figure’s brain. The speaker projects worry onto the “you” figure, creating a pervasive sense of loss of self—an underlying fear that the speaker himself will both be the one to forget and the one forgotten.

Greek Mythology

Collins employs two allusions to Greek mythology in “Forgetfulness,” creating a motif that emphasizes the intellectual loss the “you” suffers, as well as the creative loss. Collins writes, “Long ago you kissed the names of the nine muses goodbye” (Line 8). On a certain level, the loss of just the muses’ names seems minor; but the muses represent inspiration for literature, science, and art. The poem’s underlying suggestion is that the “you” has also lost, or will lose, the art and intellectual matters the muses inspire.

Similarly, “the dark mythological river / whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall” (Lines 16-17) alludes to the Lethe, one of five rivers in the ancient Greek underworld. Lethe translates directly to the poem’s title, forgetfulness. The river has a rich background in literary history, and many poets—including Virgil and Keats—include references in their poetry. According to myth, dead souls (Shades) were to drink from the Lethe, and this would cause them to forget their lives on earth. Appropriate in a poem about aging and death, the Lethe marks the underworld as the inevitable destination for the “you.” There is an obvious irony in the “you” figure’s inability to remember the river’s name that translates to “forgetfulness,” and it fits in with the other intellectual losses, adding to the overwhelming catalog.

The Love Poem

The final stanza presents a shift in tone, creating a sense of empathy for the “you” figure and turning the poem’s focus from fear and anxiety to acceptance and love. In the final lines, the speaker says, “No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted / out of a love poem that you used to know by heart” (Lines 22-23). The repetition of “No wonder” in the final stanza emphasizes the understanding the speaker has for the “you”; the “you” figure’s desperation is warranted. While the speaker thinks forgetfulness is inevitable, he also acknowledges that the biggest loss, the final loss, is that of a love poem. By placing the love poem in this final line, Collins puts a great deal of emphasis on it, suggesting that it may be the pinnacle of loss for the “you.” Representing both literature, love, and livelihood (for the speaker), the forgetting of the love poem is the most bittersweet loss for the “you.”