Memory can be defined as the ability of the mind to store and remember information.

This
remembrance of events is conveyed in many pieces of literature, mainly poems. Examples of
these poems include Once Upon a Time by Gabriel Okara, Piano by D.H. Lawrence and
Hide and Seek by Vernon Scannell.
In the poem Once Upon a Time, Okara shows his memories of the past and compares them
to the present. The title and the beginning of the poem suggests his desire for the past which
is expressed throughout his poem. Okara starts off by using the past tense to show that this
has happened but doesnt anymore. This is shown where he says they used to laugh with
their hearts. With the use of but and only, Okara tries to show his disappointment and
that he has been let down by the present attitudes of people towards each other. He uses the
adjective ice-block-cold to show that in the warmness of the eyes of people in the past has
now turned into a threatening present. The punitive consonants create a menacing
atmosphere. In the second stanza Okara remembers the honesty and sincerity of the past and
contrasts it when he continues to talk about the disingenuousness of the present. He shows us
this with the repetition of heart as he says they used to shake hands with their hearts..Now
they shake hands without hearts. At the end of the third stanza, Okara says that he has
learned many things. From the beginning of this poem, we have learnt that the things that
he has learnt are to not trust anybody, to adapt and to conform. He continues in the next
stanza to show that everything is pretence and insincere. He illustrates this fact by stating all
the faces he had to put on such as homeface, officeface, streetface Okara tells us by this
that he has had to learn how to be false. In the next stanza, he demonstrates to us his desire
for the past as he says I want to unlearn all these muting thingsI want to relearn. The
point of the last stanza is to show that Okara wants to recapture the innocence of his growth.
He wants to recapture his former self as he asks his son to show him how he used to laugh
and smile. The final line of the poem once upon a time when I was like you gives the
poem uniformity. The repetition of the start helps to create the atmosphere of a story and
highlights the meanings of a fairy-tale.
Gabriel Okaras Once Upon a Time can be compared with Brothers by Andrew Forster. In
his poem, Okara wants to go back to the past and he wants the world to stay like it was in the
past in the future. Forster has the same desire for the past. In Brothers, Forster remembers
how himself and his brother Paul left their younger brother behind at a bus stop on their way
to a football match. Forster shows the innocence of his younger brother with the use of verbs
such as windmilled, but he tries to emphasise the fact that he was a pain to Forster and his
brother Paul as he shows that they were Saddled with their younger brother. Forster wants
to go back to the past and correct it so that his relationship can last. Both Okara and Forster
are looking back to the past, to their childhood and they both urge to correct the future.
This theme of looking back to the past is also shown in Piano by D.H Lawrence. In this
poem, Lawrence tries to remember the fond memories of his mother as he listens to a woman
singing to him. The first stanza is a mix of first and third person. Lawrence uses me and I
in the opening two lines, but in the third line, the narrator refers to himself as A child. By
doing this, Lawrence tries to add a touch of intensity to the poem. Sound is also prominent
throughout the poem and it helps to build up the strength of memory. The calm of the
beginning of the first stanza shown with softly is contrasted with the powerful
onomatopoeia of boom of the tingling strings. The narrators description of his mother,
small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings, though short, speaks volumes as his

memory of her being happy emphasised. The verb pressing shows a devoted bonding
between the mother and the child. Poised implies elegance and sophistication. Finally, we
can see she was full of admiration from the alliteration smiles as she sings. We are taken
into the evocative memory of the narrator with which he suggests he is fighting against. The
narrator starts by saying In spite of myself which suggests that even though the memories
were beautiful, he didnt want to go back as his memories were so acute, they were painful.
He is then betrayed into his memory which emphasises the resistance he puts up against the
assault of the memory. The heart weeps of me to belong shows the fact that the music is
strong, it echoes within his whole body. Weeps suggests the emotional state the narrator has
been reduced to; one of intense sadness and poignancy. Finally, the last stanza signals the
speakers resignation to his memory. It is vain for the singer to burst into clamour
because the narrator has done that already by handing himself over to the bombardment of
feelings and memory. In this stanza, Lawrence introduces a juxtaposition of manhood and
childhood where we are left with an image of the adult as a child, wildly weeping for his past.
This poem can be compared with Poem at Thirty-Nine by Alice Walker. The objective of
Piano is to show Lawrences memories of his mother in the past. This is the same with
Walkers poem. In her poem, she talks about the memories she had of her father and how she
learnt many things from him, but only after his death, she knew that what she was doing
musty have upset him, but he didnt say anything about it. There is also contrast between both
poems as Piano shows the sad memories of his mother. On the other hand, Poem at Thirty
Nine, Walker shows some happy memories of her father, for example when he is cooking he
dances in excitement and happiness.
As an adult, Vernon Scannell reflects upon the popular childhood game of Hide and Seek in
his poem. In this poem, Scannell expresses his feelings of sadness at not being able to share
his victory of the game with his friends. A feeling of abandonment. Firstly, he shows this with
the use of sensory imagery. An example of this is salty dark used to convey the darkness of
the shed itself that he was hiding in. As an adult reflecting on the game, the speaker realised
how lonely and isolated he felt when he was unable to share his success.