Emily Dickinson

Remorse – Is Memory – Awake –

Remorse – Is Memory – Awake – - meaning Summary

Memory as Relentless Judge

The poem depicts remorse as an active, waking memory that stages past actions before the soul. Dickinson personifies remorse as attending like a party host, illuminating deeds for inspection and forcing belief and suffering. The tone treats remorse as incurable—a condition beyond human or divine remedy—presenting it as both an ordained part of existence and the "adequate of Hell," a perpetual moral punishment that cannot be escaped.

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Remorse – is Memory – awake – Her Parties all astir – A Presence of Departed Acts – At window – and at Door – Its Past – set down before the Soul And lighted with a Match – Perusal – to facilitate – And help Belief to stretch – Remorse is cureless – the Disease Not even God – can heal – For ’tis His institution – and The Adequate of Hell –

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