If Recollecting Were Forgetting
poem 33
If Recollecting Were Forgetting - meaning Summary
Memory's Playful Reversals
The poem plays with oppositions between remembering and forgetting, and between mourning and merriment. Dickinson imagines a world where those pairs swap functions, which exposes how fragile and subjective the mind’s labels are. The final image of fingers gathering "Today" suggests acceptance: whether memory brings loss or gain, the present is assembled from both recollection and oblivion. Tone is wry and paradoxical, inviting reflection on consciousness and perception.
Read Complete AnalysesIf recollecting were forgetting, Then I remember not. And if forgetting, recollecting, How near I had forgot. And if to miss, were merry, And to mourn, were gay, How very blithe the fingers That gathered this, Today!
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