Piano

By D. H. Lawrence

Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me;

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 pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings.

In spite of myself, the insidious mastery of song

Betrays 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

With the great black piano appassionato. 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.
Background of Author
David Herbert Lawrence was born in 1885 and died in 1930. He was an English poet,
novelist, playwright, literary critic, and essayist. In most of his texts, Lawrence examines
topics such as sexuality, instinct, vitality, spontaneity, among others. Most importantly, he
focuses on the dehumanizing effects of modern times and the process of industrialization.
During his lifetime, Lawrence was censored and persecuted due to his strong beliefs and the
misrepresentation of his works. He spent the last years in a voluntary exile. He called it
“savage pilgrimage,” which took him to places such as Australia, Italy, United States,
Mexico, and France.
summary
Piano” As a Representative of Sorrow: The poem explores the childhood memories of the
speaker and their relation with his present-day life. It begins when the speaker sheds light on
a lady whose singing and piano playing skills take him back to the past, where he sees a child
under the piano. To support that child, his mother sings on the tune he plays. Presently, the
woman’s singing brings him both pleasure and pain. At first, he gets captivated by her
melodious voice, but the charm disappears when the same melody makes him dive deep into
the time he wishes to forget. He remembers how he used to spend time with this musical
equipment. These thoughts corrode his present-day joy and make him long for a time that can
never be reversed.
First Stanza
Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me;
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 pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings.
In the first stanza, a woman sings to the lyrical voice. The poem begins by setting the scene:
“Softly, in the dusk.” A woman sings to the lyrical voice and takes him/her back in time (“a
woman is singing to me;/ Taking me back down the vista of years”). From the beginning,
Piano creates a very nostalgic mood. There are two settings in the poem: the scene where the
woman sings while the sun goes down in the distance and the remembrance of the lyrical
voice.
The first two lines of the stanza will depict this first scene, the presence of the lyrical voice,
and the second two lines will portray his/her memory and past. The memory starts when the
lyrical voice says that he/she sees a child under a piano (“till I see/A child sitting under the
piano”. This child is surrounded by music (“in the boom of the tingling strings”) and is
“pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings.” This remembrance
feels intimate and homely while creating an atmosphere of childlike innocence and peace.
“the tingling strings” is an onomatopoeia that portrays the sounds of the piano and creates a
literary effect. Furthermore, the lyrical voice says that the song of the woman takes him/her
back to the “vista of years,” serving as a metaphor for his/her childhood memories.
Second Stanza
In spite of myself, the insidious mastery of song
Betrays 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.
In the second stanza, the lyrical voice is aware of his/her remembrance. The power of the
song (“the insidious mastery of song”) seems to be stronger as the lyrical voice says, “In spite
of myself”; the lyrical voice knows that he/she is nostalgic and melancholic, and he/she does
not give easily to emotion. Once again, the lyrical voice is drawn to his/her memories without
wanting it. Emotion and memories are more powerful, and the lyrical voice is, again,
surrounded by a childhood remembrance. “Betrays me back, till the heart of me weeps to
belong” is powerful imagery to portray the lyrical voice’s wish to live his/her childhood
memories again. The heart is personified and given the human capacity of crying like in the
previous stanza, the first two lines talk about the lyrical voice’s present situation, and the
following two describe the remembrance that he/she is having at the moment. The lyrical
voice sets the scene for this memory, as he/she states: “To the old evening at home with
winter outside.”
The house and the lyrical voice are, again, surrounded by music in this comfortable and
secure home (“And hymns in the cosy parlour”). Moreover, the piano acquires a central place
in the remembrance, as the lyrical voice mentions it as “our guide.” As in the previous stanza,
the figure of the piano is introduced with onomatopoeic descriptions that enable a more vivid
image (“the tinkling piano”).
Third Stanza
So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamour
With the great black piano appassionato. 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.
In the third stanza, the lyrical voice’s thoughts about the song of the woman change. The
lyrical voice suggests that at that precise moment (“So now”), the song has lost its happiness
and its meaning (“It is vain for the singer to burst into clamour/With the great piano
appassionato”). The lyrical voice meditates on what he/she feels about the memories that
he/she experimented with (“The glamour/Of childish days is upon me”), and how he/she is no
longer living those good times that were represented in his/her childhood. The remembrance
ends, and the “manhood” is lost, as the lyrical voice gives in to emotion (“I weep like a child
for the past”). In the last line, there is a simile (“I weep like a child”) in order to emphasize
the act of crying and how this memory affected the lyrical voice. There is a central longing
for the past, for the childhood memories, throughout the poem that grows with every line and
culminates with this final statement.
THEME: Suffering
Nostalgia is typically associated with feelings of bittersweet longing with a hint of sadness.
However, in "Piano" the speaker's yearning for his past moves beyond the sadness of
nostalgia and into a much darker and more depressing territory. The theme of suffering
begins to creep into the poem in the second stanza and then sinks fully into the poem in the
third and final stanza. The first stanza is tinged with a soothing nostalgia as the speaker
reflects on the pleasant memory of his mother singing and playing the piano. The mood of the
poem then begins to shift in the second stanza as the speaker "weeps to belong" to the Sunday
evenings spent at home during his youth. His voice is laced with dread as he says that the
"insidious mastery of song / betrays [him]." His tone is suddenly different than in the first
stanza which is sprinkled with soft sentimentality. The speaker abruptly drops back into the
present in the second stanza and refers to his mother's music as "insidious" that here means
gradual but harmful. Her song is no longer a sweet, pleasant childhood memory but a painful
reminder of what he can no longer have. The speaker's suffering turns into sinking despair in
the final stanza. What was at first nostalgia is now an intense desire to escape from the
present and the realities of adulthood. He "weep[s] like a child for the past."
THEME: Relationships
The most obvious relationship in "Piano" is the bond between the speaker and his mother.
However, the poem also provides subtle details that hint to the speaker's relationship or lack
thereof to the woman who sings to him in the present. The speaker's mother and the woman
who sings in the present are seen only through the eyes of the speaker. He paints his mother
in a much more flattering light than he does the woman in the present. His description of his
mother suggests that she is delicate and feminine as indicated by her "small, poised feet" and
the pleasant sound of her "tinkling piano." In contrast he portrays the woman in the present as
bold and boisterous. She begins the poem by singing softly but by the final stanza she has
burst into passionate song in stark contrast to the subtle grace of the mother. The sole purpose
of the two women in "Piano" is to provide more information about the speaker. His
description of his mother indicates that he felt a close bond with her whereas his description
of the woman in the present suggests that he has no interest in knowing her or in pursuing any
kind of relationship with her whether that be platonic or romantic. His heart lies with a
woman from his past who made him feel safe and happy. This maternal bond echoes
Lawrence's own relationship with his mother Lydia (1851–1910) who was often a source of
tension in Lawrence's romantic entanglements.
THEME: Nostalgia
The attention to form and to literary devices in "Piano" lends to the poem's central theme of
nostalgia. The speaker longs to return to the comfortable days of his youth when he curled up
under the parlour piano to watch his mother smile and sing a joyful song to him. The
speaker's wistful longing is emphasized by the structure of the poem. "Piano" is written in
couplets unlike many poems from the modernist era. Couplets are two successive lines of
verse that have the same rhyme and meter or rhythmic beat. Modernist poets often
experimented with free verse which is an open form of poetry without consistent rhyme or
meter. Lawrence's choice to use a consistent structure of rhyming couplets is therefore
noteworthy. One reason that many modernist poets explored free verse is because the
inconsistent and open style more authentically captures the fragmented state of society and
the fragility of the human mind in a way that a formulaic structure could not. In "Piano" the
speaker's nostalgia is emphasized by the reliable flow of couplets to mimic the safety of
youth. The poem's use of sibilance and other sound devices contributes to the theme of
nostalgia. Sibilance is a stylistic device that refers to a group of repeated sibilants in close
proximity. A sibilant is a linguistic term that refers to the sound produced when the tongue
touches near the roof of the mouth and air is pushed past the tongue. One of the most
common sibilants in the English language is the –s sound. The first line of "Piano" uses the
sibilant –s to evoke the speaker's nostalgia as he gradually slips into his past. He says,
"Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me." The use of sibilance in this line makes it
sound as if the speaker is softly whispering and lulling readers into his past with him.
LITERARY DEVICES
1.Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line such as the sound
of /o/ in “To the old Sunday evenings at home, with winter outside” and the sound of /e/ in “ I
weep like a child for the past.”

2.Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such as the
sound of /w/ in “with winter outside,” and /s/ sound in “smiles as she sings.”
3.Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such as the
sound of /s/ in “Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me” and the sound of /m/ in “Of
childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast.”

4.Caesura: It is a break or pause in the middle of a line of verse. These breaks can be towards
the beginning, middle, or the end of a line such as “With the great black piano appassionato.
The glamour”

5.Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break;
rather, it rolls over to the next line. For example;
“A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling strings
And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings.”

6.Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. D. H.
Lawrence has used imagery in this poem such as, “A child sitting under the piano, in the
boom of the tingling strings”, “I weep like a child for the past” and “Softly, in the dusk, a
woman is singing to me.”

7.Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between the

objects that are different in nature. The poet has used singing as an extended metaphor to
show how past memories keep on haunting people in life.

8.Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them
symbolic meanings that are different from the literal meanings. The singing of the child
symbolizes the memories he desires to relive.

9.Simile: It is a device used to compare something with something else to make the meanings
clear to the readers. Lawrence has used this device at the end of the poem such as “ I weep
like a child for the past.”