Few emotions are more memorable or consequential than regret. A breakup, death, or any traumatic event evokes intense emotions that seem impossible to remove from memory. The memory of a regretted event plays out in an endless loop in the minds of those affected, constantly reminding them of past problems and making them desire an escape from their emotions. In his 1917 poem, “La Figlia che Piange,” translated from Italian as “The Girl Who Cries,” TS Eliot explores the relationship between a traumatic, regretful event and the idealized memory of the speaker. The speaker describes a beautiful woman standing on a ladder posing as a model for a classical work of art. The speaker describes a man who leaves his woman for another, leaving her completely crushed. As the poem progresses, however, it becomes apparent that the woman does not exist in reality, but in the speaker's memory. In an attempt to cope with the emotions of regret he associates with the event, he attempts, like an artist, to alter his memory to fit a classical ideal. The creation and interpretation of memory, he discovers, is like the creation of a work of art. The title of the poem is an allusion to a classical work of art that sets the tone for the poem's artistic interpretation. According to the poet, “The Crying Daughter” is the name of a statue in a museum in Northern Italy that he looked for on the advice of a friend, but couldn't find. He had never seen the statue, but was inspired by his friend's description of it. This story establishes a superficial interpretation of the poem in which the speaker sees memories that are not his own and attempts to imagine himself within them. From this perspective, the first stanza describes the speaker's speech... in the center of the paper... the point of view changes once again. This time the speaker, now in the present, speaks on a historical time scale of the events of the first two stanzas. He no longer participates, but contemplates the emotions that the girl's memory arouses. The speaker recalls how the memory of the girl "propelled [his] imagination" (18) for "many days and many hours" (19) and wonders how things would have been if they had not parted: "How they should have been Together" !" (21). In this view, the speaker is able to reflect on his emotions regarding the event. Without feeling the traumatic emotions of regret, the speaker asks, would he have had the opportunity to write about it? Only in the idealized world of his memory was the speaker able to see art in his traumatic situation. Without that experience, he comments, “I would have missed a gesture and a pose” (22).