To be forgot by thee
Surpasses Memory
Of other minds
The Heart cannot forget
Unless it contemplate
What it declines
I was regarded then
Raised from oblivion
A single time
To be remembered what —
Worthy to be forgot
Is my renown

Analysis, meaning and summary of Emily Dickinson's poem To be forgot by thee

1 Comment

  1. joe weil says:

    In “To be forgot by thee,” Dickinson proves herself to be the equal of Donne and Herbert as a metaphysical wit. Only such a great poet could collapse the dialectic between remembering and forgetting in such a short span of time. What takes Hegel volumes to explicate, Emily does in a few lines: thesis, anti-thesis, and synthesis. Forgetting in her poem is not the anti-thesis of remembering, but, in reality, a higher form of memory. The energy of forgetting proves that the beloved must have been known and seen and remembered. We do not forget what we never remembered.Dickinson’s wit is greater even than Shakespeare’s creation, Rosalind, and she may have been a true hybrid of Rosalind and Cordelia. Young writers would do well to sharpen their wits on Shakespeare and the King James as Emily did. I hope a kind soul posts “I dreaded that first Robin so,” a particular favorite of mine. It is necessary to post them with titles, but one should add the qualifier (Title is not Emily’s). She had no title save the crown and glory of the poems.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Do you have any comments, criticism, paraphrasis or analysis of this poem that you feel would assist other visitors in understanding the meaning or the theme of this poem by Emily Dickinson better? If accepted, your analysis will be added to this page of American Poems. Together we can build a wealth of information, but it will take some discipline and determination.