Forgetfulness
Forgetfulness
�Nothing can last forever. There isn\'t any memory, no matter how intense, that doesn\'t fade out at last.� (Juan Rulfo) This quote completely relates to the poem Forgetfulness by Billy Collins in many ways. The poem is about a person who is aging and experiencing memory loss as he grows older. In the poem memory loss begins with something small like forgetting the quadratic equation but by the end it is forgetting how to ride a bike or swimming. The author relates too many of his readers because in the poem it states that new memories are replaced with the old. A lot of adolescents can relate to what the narrator is saying for example, when teens study for a test and cram all the information in one night, they may have received the highest possible mark on the test but generally in two days everything will be forgotten and replaced by another subject. There are various literary devices used that construct the subtext that memories will perish no matter how intense. The three of the following which this essay will further analyze are allusions, diction and imagery.
Allusion is used a couple of times in the poem to emphasize the subtext of the poem for instance, �It has floated away down a dark mythological river whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall� (Collins) Collins carefully chooses his words to create the literary device in known as allusion. The river that begins with an L is a referral to the Greek mythological river in Hades. The story behind this river is that whoever drinks from it will experience memory loss. He uses the allusion to contrast with his next point which is, �on your way to oblivion where you will join those who have forgotten how to swim or ride a bicycle.� (Collins) The meaning of this subtext is that as you grow older you will begin to forget more important things that you could not imagine to lose, such as riding a bike or swimming, and that this is one of the steps into oblivion. It will be as if you
�Nothing can last forever. There isn\'t any memory, no matter how intense, that doesn\'t fade out at last.� (Juan Rulfo) This quote completely relates to the poem Forgetfulness by Billy Collins in many ways. The poem is about a person who is aging and experiencing memory loss as he grows older. In the poem memory loss begins with something small like forgetting the quadratic equation but by the end it is forgetting how to ride a bike or swimming. The author relates too many of his readers because in the poem it states that new memories are replaced with the old. A lot of adolescents can relate to what the narrator is saying for example, when teens study for a test and cram all the information in one night, they may have received the highest possible mark on the test but generally in two days everything will be forgotten and replaced by another subject. There are various literary devices used that construct the subtext that memories will perish no matter how intense. The three of the following which this essay will further analyze are allusions, diction and imagery.
Allusion is used a couple of times in the poem to emphasize the subtext of the poem for instance, �It has floated away down a dark mythological river whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall� (Collins) Collins carefully chooses his words to create the literary device in known as allusion. The river that begins with an L is a referral to the Greek mythological river in Hades. The story behind this river is that whoever drinks from it will experience memory loss. He uses the allusion to contrast with his next point which is, �on your way to oblivion where you will join those who have forgotten how to swim or ride a bicycle.� (Collins) The meaning of this subtext is that as you grow older you will begin to forget more important things that you could not imagine to lose, such as riding a bike or swimming, and that this is one of the steps into oblivion. It will be as if you