Literary+Devices


 * PIANO **
 * by D.H Lawrence **

**SOFTLY, in the dusk, a woman is singing to** me e  **Taking me back down the vista of years, till I** see
 * A child sitting under the piano, in the //boom// of the __tingling__ strings **
 * And __p__ressing the small, __ p __ oised ** ** feet of a mother who sm__i__les as she** sings

** In spite of myself ****, the insidious mastery of songs**
 * __B__****etrays me back, till the heart of me __weeps__ to belong **
 * To the old Sunday evenings at home, with winter outside**
 * And hymns in the cosy parlour, the __tinkling__ piano our guide.**

**So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamour** **__ DESCRIPTION: __**
 * With the great black pian__o__ // appassionat__o__ //. The glamour**
 * Of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast**
 * Down in the flood of remembrance,** I weep like a child **for the past.**
 * No || Literary Devices || Examples ||
 * 1 || Imagery || The poem provides two clear images of women playing a piano; one a mother to a child, the other an adult to an adult. The poet provides clear word pictures, especially of the cosy scene in the parlour on a musical winter’s evening ||
 * 2 || Metaphor || ﻿piano﻿ here represent the nostalgia of the piano in his childhood. ||
 * || || Memory is compared vista - The visual percept of a region ||
 * || || Poised ||
 * 3 || Symbol || In spite of myself [symbolizes masculinity] ||
 * 4 || Simile || I weep like a child - The image brings upon childhood pain. Something everyone can remember. ||
 * 5 || Personification || till the heart of me weeps to belong- the heart is given a human quality ||
 * 6 || Onomotopeia || in the boom of the tingling strings ||
 * 7 || Metonymy || feet represent the speaker’s mother. ||
 * 8 || Paradox || The music played so powerfully in the present, draws the listening speaker back into the past. The more the performer tries to appeal to the speaker, the more he loses focus in the present. As the piano reaches its climax ‘appassionato’, the speaker is ironically flooded in remembrance. ||
 * 9 || Alliteration || The ‘b’ in ‘betrays me back’ emphasises the sense of helpless guilt experienced by the speaker as memory begins to dominate. The repeating ‘p’ sound in the fourth line of the first stanza highlights the contact between son and mother and the rhythm of the piano playing. ||
 * 10 || Assonance || The repeating long ‘o’ sounds of the first two lines of the last stanza show the musical climax of the singer’s performance. The repeated ‘i’ sounds in ‘smiles as she sings’ create the facial effects of a smile as one reads those lines. ||
 * 11 || Repetition || The piano is repeated in each stanza. The word ‘tinkling’ is nearly a repetition of ‘tingling’. The repetition of ‘weeps’ emphasises the speaker’s emotional need for his mother, even though she is dead. ‘Appassionato’ echoes ‘boom’. ||

RHYME SCHEME

me -- see :: ** aa **

springs -- sings :: **bb**

songs -- belongs :: **cc**

outside -- guide :: **dd**

clamour -- glamour :: **ee**

**cast -- past** :: **ff ﻿**