Many people believe that the worst part of the memory is all the pain that comes with it. But what actually causes all the suffering is loneliness. Memories, thoughts and ideas need to be shared to understand them better or to let them go. In this essay I will examine 6 poems: “Piano” by DH Lawrence, “Poem at 39” by Alice Walker, “Stop All The Clocks” by Auden, “War Photographer” by Carol Ann Duffy, “Praise Song” by Grace Nichols and finally Seamus Heaney's "Digging" and how they present their memories. In "Poem at 39" Alice Walker talks mostly about the memories she had with her father and how her feelings towards him have changed. altered over the years. The poem was written when she was 39 years old, divorced from her husband and in need of a father for her daughter. It changes the way he thinks and feels about himself as he writes the poem. Walker mentions the lessons her father taught her, the things that were important to him, "writing deposit slips and checks." His father only made $300 a year, so money was something they didn't really have. When she was younger, Walker thought of her father as someone who wanted to have control over her, telling her what to do and how to do it right, in a sense he planned her future but she had other ideas which can be seen from the quote "many of his truths must have pained him", which suggests that his beliefs were not accepted by him. Later, when the memories become more powerful, shown with the use of an exclamation point when Walker repeats the phrase "How I miss my father!" she begins to remember the best thing about him, the way he cooked and shared food, that he was a happy, peaceful man who “danced in a yoga meditation.” As she wrote the poem, she re...... middle of paper ...... their past helped them become a better person, as for Walker, Lawrence and Nichols it was their parents who taught them how grow into successful adults. All six poems show the power that memories can have, how they can bring tears to a grown man's eyes or hurt someone who hasn't even personally experienced their memory. Oscar Wilde once said, “Memory is the diary we all carry with us.” hanging out with us”, songs and smells take you back, some can be painful, yet it is wrong to hide from the past. Every little thing you go through makes you the person you are, they are the only things you will have left, they are like a treasure that no one can take away from you. You may decide to "cry like a baby about the past", although I personally believe that you should not waste your time and create more memories worth remembering because, in the end, what will you be left with??