Memory Green Essay Questions

Why is the person the speaker addresses unable to recall the memory that his surroundings evoke?

MacLeish seems to be illuminating the collective human experience of forgetting, the desire to remember, and how nostalgia functions within us as time passes. Perhaps this person cannot remember exact details because strong feelings, even positive ones, become buried when their passing or loss is unbearable. Another possibility is that this particular forgetting subject is a reminder that the mind has its limits, and time works in powerful ways to reconstitute human consciousness. Even further, MacLeish could be illustrating how even the most joyous of experiences ultimately result in loss, as the main condition of human life is change and progression. Nostalgia is the visceral feeling that holds the tension between intense experience and loss, and a foggy memory may be the mind's attempt to make this nostalgia more bearable.

What is the purpose of the natural imagery in this poem?

It seems that MacLeish is using nature's ever-changing qualities to explore the same qualities as they manifest in the human mind. Memory and the poignancy of time passing is made more intense by nature's evocative, sensory capabilities. Ironically, nature's perpetual, unstoppable movement also provides a contrast to our inconsistency and powerlessness as human subjects. It seems MacLeish knows that we are part of a very powerful, relentless cycle that is indifferent to our ability to make meaning of it. The wind and the dying leaves are both symbolic features of nature that remind us of the strength of invisible forces that constitute us, and ultimately claim us.