Lines 9-14 Summary

Lines 9-10

Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:

• At long last we have arrived at line 9. Wait, is that supposed to matter?
• Well, actually yes it does. You see, this is a sonnet, and very important things tend to happen around line 9.
• Many times, the sonnet's tone or direction or overall feel or… something, will shift. This important moment is often called the turn (or volta for all you Italian scholars). 
• You can read brief blurbs about it here and here. 
• The word "yet" opens line 9, a clue that things might be shifting just a little bit. And in fact, they sure are.
• So far, the speaker has used the word "remember" three times (count 'em). All of sudden, she introduces the word "forget" into the mix, and starts to explore a slightly different idea.
• Remember earlier we mentioned that it almost seemed like the speaker was worried her hubby might forget her? Well now it seems she's giving some vent to that idea and saying, "Hey hun, it's okay if you forget about me for just a little bit but then, eventually, come to your senses and remember me. Oh and don't get too upset about it sweetheart, it's quite alright."
• The other thing we need to tell about line 9 of a sonnet is that usually the rhyme scheme of the last 6 lines (often called the sestet) is a little different.
• The rhyme scheme of the first 8 lines (called the octet) is ABBA ABBA, which is fairly typical of a Petrarchan sonnet.
• As for the sestet, the Petrarchan rhyme scheme rules there are a bit more flexible, except for the fact that they almost never, ever end with a couplet.
• In the case of "Remember," we are given the oh-so-interesting CDD ECE. Hmm, well it's not the most common type of rhyme scheme, but it is perfectly within the rules.
• To read more about just what the whole point of this poem's rhyme scheme head over to "Form and Meter."

Lines 11-12

For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,

• Okay, now it looks like we're about to get an explanation for just why the speaker tells her beau not to grieve. Before we break all this down, though, let's gloss a few little thingies.
• First, "darkness and corruption" sounds really bad, even if it is a periphrasis. And guess what? It is really bad. This is a reference to death—after one dies, the body decays, or "corrupts," as they used to say back in the day.
• Darkness refers to the fact that nobody knows what happens after death—the afterlife is metaphorically "dark," you could say.
• You could also say that "darkness" loosely describes the lover's emotional state after the speaker's death.
• This makes sense when you consider that it comes, like, four words after "grief." Just think about how people often refer to difficult periods in their lives as "dark times" and the like.
• Still with us, Shmoopers? Great. So, now that we've figured out corruption and darkness, let's figure out the whole thing.
• If despite the speaker's death (and the all the grief and sadness it will cause) some "vestige," or small remnant, of her thoughts remain (in the beloved's mind, presumably), then…
• …something will happen.
• What? What?? What??? Tell us, please! 
• We can't go there just yet; we have to tell you why this word "vestige" is very important first.
• It describes something leftover. In this case, it refers to things the speaker once thought and said that her beloved may still recall after she dies.
• Hmm, well why would he forget them anyway? That's like worrying about your best friend forgetting all the cool things you said.
• That's a good point, and we've touched on it before. The speaker seems just a tad bit worried that her beloved will not remember her, and that kind of freaks her out. She's thinking about this "vestige" or leftover because, she implies, this is how she will live on, even after death.
• Okay, now we get to find out what happens...

Lines 13-14

Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.

• At long last, the moment we've been waiting for: the summit, the coup de grace, the denouement, the big payoff—you get the idea.
• The speaker says that, even if some vestige of her thoughts survives, it is much better ("by far") that her beloved forget her and be happy rather than remember her and be sad.
• Whoa, Nelly. Now, wait just a minute. Let's get this straight. 
• This whole time she's been telling him to remember her. In fact, the sonnet starts out by talking about memory, kind of like this: "remember me, don't forget me when I finally die."
• But, then it goes "Well, if you forget me for a short time, but then remember me, don't get too upset about it, that's fine."
• And finally, we end with: "Well, even if you remember some of the thoughts I once had, it really is better that you should forget me and smile, rather than think of me and be sad."
• Okay… so, this is totally confusing. Talk about a major change of heart here. How does it work that for most of the poem the speaker is obsessed with being remembered but then changes her mind?
• It must have something to do with the speaker realizing how deep her love is. Sure, she doesn't actually say that, but think about it like this:
• She really wants her beloved to remember her, but she also realizes that remembering her might be kind of painful—thinking about fond memories of somebody who is gone can be, well, sad to the max.
• In the end, then, "Remember" isn't super-inconsistent or contradictory or anything like that.
• It is a poem in which somebody (the speaker) has a change of heart, but one that is motivated by true love, a desire to keep her beloved from suffering after she's gone. All together now: awww.