Loss Of Memory In Poetry

There are many allusions presented to us explicitely and implicitely in this poem. The poets apparent loss of memory throughout the poem implicitely alludes to the speakers decomposing body.In the first line,the speaker refers to himself as “me” but by the second quatrain he refers to himself as merely “the hand that writ” this poem.The speakers memory is reduced further in the third quatrain to “this verse” and by line ten resolves to “when I am perhaps compounded in clay”.The state of the speakers memory as he refers to himself definitively as only a “poor name” who to which he wishes his lover to not mention aloud is reflected by the the striking imagery of the poets body decomposing to dust.It is as though the speaker wishes the young mans memory to be impaired by figurative dust.
The poem which opens on a negative imperative also alludes to the “vile world” in which the poet invisages.The tolling of the “surly sullen bell” was brief as its strikes corresponded to the departed’s age.This brief striking of the bell serves as a “warning” bell to the world that the speaker has “fled from this vile world”.

The poet ulitises poetic devices in this poem as a tool to portray and emphasize his moral .One such device which the …show more content…
Peguineys argues that the “if” clauses in lines five and nine are inviting the reader to read this verse in future.He also points out the impossibility of you to read this “hand writ” line and “remember not the hand that writ