Summarize and briefly analyze the poem "Piano" by D. H. Lawrence.

D. H. Lawrence’s poem “Piano” illustrates the use of
imagery.  Through the images, both visual and auditory,  the reader acknowledges the
nostalgic mood of the poem. Written in 1918, the poem expresses the long held belief
that a man should not cry; yet, this man cannot hold back his
tears.

Speaker

The
point of view of the poem is first person with a man [possibly the poet] as the
narrator.  His portrayal of the events he describes is both complex and revealingly
simple.

Form

• The
  poem has three stanzas. Each stanza is a quatrain.  The lines are coupled so that every
  two lines rhyme. 


• Every stanza follows the same pattern:
  the first two lines provide a scene of the present with the last two lines comparing the
  present to the past.


• His vocabulary and diction are easy
  to follow and conversational in
  style.

Poetic
Devices

The poet builds its impact with
imagery.  There are two picture painted by the poet: the woman in
the present singing and playing the piano; and  the mother playing the piano and the boy
underneath at her feet.

Metaphor—the
man’s memory of his childhood is compared to a vista, which mean a panoramic view or
landscape

Simile—When the man’s
emotions overwhelm him, he compares his emotional state to a
child. 

Summary

1st
stanza

In the present, a woman is singing to the speaker
which reminds him of a time in his childhood.  The poet sets the scene using the words
softly with the time at dusk.  As he hears the music, he sees himself sitting under the
piano as his mother plays and sings.  This is a happy time because the mother smiles at
her child.  The sounds are now booming and tingling…as he listens and watches his
mother, he touches and presses her feet.  The mother does not mind this
interference.

2nd stanza

The
speaker does not really want to feel this experience at the time. He describes the
impact of the song as sinister because it takes him back [whether he wants to go or not]
 to a nostalgic time in his life---a beloved time.  Within himself, he cries for the
time on the Sundays when it was winter outside.  The family would sit in the warm living
room and sing with the piano as the leader of their tunes.

3rd stanza

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So now it is vain for the singer to burst into
clamor
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.

Because of his happy
memories, the present day singer’s song has changed from soft to noisy with the large,
ebony grand piano.  The speaker’s memories call him to another place when he was a
child. As a sophisticated man, he does not want to show his emotions; however, he can no
longer restrain himself, and he cries for the child that he was. Reluctantly, the
speaker gives himself over to these
memories.

Themes

Nostalgia
for another time and place---sometimes music, sounds, and places take a person back in
his memory. Often, the recollection makes the person go back to a pleasant time;
however, the memory make bring the pain of the loss of the childhood or the loss of the
people in the memory. 

Man versus Child---The child loved
his mother and enjoyed the time spent under the piano with the family singing and
laughing.  On the other hand, the speaker fears the loss of his masculinity when he
yields to the memory’s emotions. This issue is one that a man faces in today’s society;
however, men are beginning to be more comfortable in showing their true
feelings.