Forgetfulness

Collins uses a direct address to the second person to great effect. Choosing to speak to a “you” figure, Collins expands his audience and makes it intimate at the same time. The “you” figure has the power to encompass both the speaker himself, in a self-referential move, as well as all of Collins’s readers. The direct address makes the reader a part of the poem and creates a stronger sense of both sympathy and empathy for the figure who is forgetting and losing so much. Collins’s choice to directly address the reader forces them to consider the poem from a different, more personal angle, embodying each aspect of forgetfulness and thinking more deeply about the loss. The reader’s immersion in the narrative creates a deeper sense of investment. The second person address also introduces an element of vulnerability; the possibility of reading the poem as if the speaker is talking to himself allows the reader to sympathize with him further.

“Forgetfulness” relies heavily on the use of a catalog, or a systematic list of items, to create tension and pacing. Beginning with the elements of a book (author, title, plot) and moving on to items learned in school (the muses, the quadratic equation, the planets) and beyond, Collins establishes that the list of forgotten items will create a baseline of values (creativity, intellect, learning); these values will serve to examine larger themes of death,