Connotation: By using words like “cozy” and “tinkling piano” and “flood of remembrance” and “softly” and “with winter outside”, D.H. Lawrence paints this beautiful scene of a comfortable childhood. It makes the piano seem more inviting. Lawrence makes use of several literary devices in ‘Piano.’ They include but are not limited to: Enjambment: when the poet cuts off a line before its natural stopping point. For example, the transition between lines one, two, and three of the second stanza. Caesura: occurs when the poet uses a pause in the middle of a line, either through the use of punctuation or meter. For example, “With the great black piano appassionato. The glamour” in the final stanza. Alliteration: occurs when the poet uses the same consonant sounds at the beginning of words. For example, “poised” and “pressing” in stanza one and “parlour” and “piano” at the end of stanza two.
Attitude: Our hearts reach out as we read this. All of us are tempted to “weep like a child for the past.” The smallest picture or memory can immerse us in a pool of nostalgia and days later, we are still drying off. Music has such a powerful effect on people. The brain can link certain songs to memories or even smells and sights. Hearing a song that you haven’t heard for 20 years can shake the rust off of old memories and open a “flood of remembrance.” He doesn’t really sound bitter… just sad.
Shift: The shift occurs between the second and third paragraphs. Lawrence is through recounting the mental image that he sees and steps back into the present tense. It's a powerful change in the content and tone. It's crucial shifts like these that allow us to see the true purpose and meaning behind the poem. True poets employ masterful shifts in their work and it takes a diligent reading to catch them and analyze them.
Title: Many who play the piano have strong feelings attached to it. Lawrence is a very pensive poet, and it's easy to see his opinions and emotional attachment to the piano. Knowing Lawrence, however, there are also will be layered meanings and hidden metaphors in the poem. Lawrence uses the piano to symbolize his childhood. You can almost get the impression that he might have stopped playing or never learned to play the piano as he got older. Now, looking back, he regrets that decision. Life was so simple, black and white, just like the piano, but now, it has become so complex and so cruel.
Theme: An analysis of "Piano" by D. H. Lawrence shows that he is trying to tell others to take advantage of every moment that you have. Life is so precious. Youth truly is wasted on the young. He wants us to try to appreciate each moment for what it truly is and to look at things from a wider perspective. He wants us to recognize and appreciate the the way things smell, sound, feel. Small details are amazing.
Explanation: Your welcome
