Piano
D.H.
Lawrence
(1885-1930).
Know for his 'erotic' (for the time) literary novels: sons and
lovers, and Lady Chatterly's lover.
Piano
is
a lyric poem,
12
lines, aabbc
poem
The
persona remembers his childhood while listening to a woman singing to
him.
The
poem is divided into 3 stanzas/quatrains (present, past, present),
between stanza 2 and 3, the juxtaposition between the 'old Sunday
evening' and the present moment creates enough pain that the persona
begins to 'weep.'
Lyric
poetry
A
short poem with a song-like quality
The
persona addresses the listener to explain/explore certain emotions.
They are not narrating a story, but presenting his or her own
feelings, state of mind, or perceptions.
Key
Theme:
Remembrance
Nostalgia
- and that power of memories to reduce a grown man to tears.
Language
choices/Diction
the
vista of years (vista: a view; an awarenes of a passage of time)
the
boom of the tingling strings
the
insiduous mastery of song - hint of betrayal
Semantic
field of music:
piano,
singing, sings, song, hymns, tinkling piano, appassionato
Sibilance
compare:
softly,
in the dusk (the 's' sounds like a whisper, enticing)
to!
in
spite of myself, the insidious mastery of song (the 's' sounds
sinister, mocking)
they're
being heard down the 'vista of years'
Enjambment
My
manhood is cast
down
in the flood of remembrance
(the
reader has to move down the page to reach 'down' and so the movement
downwards is stressed)
Enjambment
My
manhood is cast
down
in the flood of remembrance
(the
reader has to move down the page to reach 'down' and so the movement
downwards is stressed)
Imagery
'the
flood of remembrance' - overwhelming rush of waters, like tears which
will cause him to weep.
The
mother - a woman with 'small, poised feet' and who 'smiles as she
sings'
note:
hymns are upholding 'God' but here it is the piano who is 'our guide'
when the snow is falling outside - subtley raises the importance of
the piano.
Repetition
weeps
(line 8) - the 'heart' of the persona weeps (silently but profoundly
weep
(line 14) - 'down in the flood of remembrance' he weeps (for real)
for the past
Contrast
(contasts
weave through this poem, binding images and moments together)
'softly'
the woman sings in the dusk (line 1) and 'the singer to burst into
clamor with the great black piano appassionato (lines 11-12)
(appassionato - with be played with great passion)
'dusk'
between the opening of the poem and the 'old Sunday evenings at home'
the
realisation that there is no difference between the persona as a man
and as a child. At the end he weeps 'like a child for the past'.
Early
and revised version of poem:
D.H.
Lawrence webpage by University of Nottingham
Good
(quick/efficient) Biographies
If
you have time, do 'google', Lawrence quotes - there are some good
ones!
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