Memory and the Past

Memory functions as both a haunting and a source of potential renewal, with characters trapped by recollections of 'buried life' or lost lilacs, yet also seeking to 'redeem the time' through the recovery of past visions.

The woman's 'buried life' and the speaker's recollection of 'things that other people have desired' highlight the haunting presence of the past.

The poem repeatedly invokes memory, with the street lamps dissolving 'the floors of memory' and the moon having 'lost her memory,' highlighting the fragmented and unreliable nature of recollection.

The speaker is compelled by the memory of the woman's gesture and the autumn weather, which haunts his imagination for many days and hours.

The waiter's recollection of a childhood encounter and Phlebas's forgetting of his former life both explore the persistence and erasure of memory.