Forgetting

Hey, opposites attract right? And what of it? Well, that would explain why forgetting is a big part of a poem called "Remember." For the most part, the speaker is obsessed with being remembered, except towards the end, where she changes her mind. At first she's all "Well, I guess it's okay if you forget me, as long as you remember me later," but then she essentially says, "Yeah, actually it's better that you forget me." Why? Remembrance is associated with sadness and pain, and the speaker doesn't want this for her lover. So, she decides that she deal with being forgotten, as long as her lover will remain happy. That's pretty weird because, well, she'll be dead so it won't make any difference anyway.

• Lines 9-10: The speaker starts to change her mind a little bit here in line 9, a crucial point in any sonnet that is sometimes called the turn, or the volta. Forgetfulness here is a metaphor for death, in some ways. If the beloved doesn't remember the speaker, she will be totally and completely dead.
• Lines 13-14: The speaker ups the ante a bit from lines 9-10. Now she actually says it's better for her beloved to forget her because remembering her will cause him too much. This change of heart symbolizes the speaker's love, as she would rather sacrifice her memory, or rather metaphorically kill herself, than ask her lover to endure any pain.