Piano

Question 1

Form

Answer 1

Narrative poem

add in the card about tingling strings

Question 2

Main themes

Answer 2

• Nostalgia and longing
• Emotional
• Childhood and family
• Time
• Music

Question 3

Stanzaic structure

Answer 3

• End stopped regular stanzas
• Shows how his memory is neatly contained

Question 4

Line length

Answer 4

• Inconsisent and some enjambment
• Contrasts the regular stanzaic structure to create the effect that whilst it is contained, it is trying to escape
• The enjambment creates a sense of the ‘flood’ or ‘river’ of memories trying to escape and engulf our minds

Question 5

Metre

Answer 5

• Troachic
• Illustrates his longing to return to the past

Question 6

Rhyme scheme

Answer 6

• Regular AABB rhyme scheme
• Is mimetic of the musical nature of the poem
• The ‘rhythmic’ feel is disrupted at the end to signify his emotions pouring out uncontrollably
• The regular nature of the poems structure create a sense of something building up, especially when he tries to resist thinking about the memory in stanza 2, before it all bursts out at the end

Question 7

Flashbacks

Answer 7

• Analepsis
• The fact that the flashbacks are in present tense show how vivid these memories are, which is highlighted by how at the end, he experiences a traumatic jolt of emotions when the flashbacks end

Question 8

‘Piano’

Answer 8

Musical theme shows how music has a power ability to bring back memories and emotions

Question 9

‘Softly’

Answer 9

• Adverb
• Highlights the gentleness and warmth he feels when remembering his past

Question 10

‘Taking me back down the vista of years’

Answer 10

• Shows how music instantly transported him back
• The beautiful imagery of ‘vista’ highlights his longing for the past

Question 11

‘A child is sitting under the piano’

Answer 11

• Third person address to himself
• Gives distance - shows how far he feels from what he once was

Question 12

‘Boom’ and ‘Tinglings’

Answer 12

• Onomatopoeias
• Show how vivid his memory is

Question 13

‘small poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings’

Answer 13

• Graceful imagery and sibilance
• The mother is portrayed in a positive way to show, again, his nostalgia for the comfort of the past

Question 14

‘In spite of myself, the insidiuous mastery of song Betrays me back’

Answer 14

He looks back to his childhood with longing, yet finds it uncomfortable to look back because he feels a sadness for what he has lost

Question 15

‘till the heart of me weeps to belong’

Answer 15

• Synedoche and personification
• Shows his great sadness for not being able to return to his past

Question 16

‘with winter outside and hymns in the cosy parlour’

Answer 16

Paints a very cosy, comfortable picture of his past, one which he longs to embrace

Question 17

‘the tinkling piano our guide’

Answer 17

• Personification of piano and onomatopeia
• Shows the simplicity of his life as a child, where his life was goverened by nothing but a piano

Question 18

‘With the great black piano appassionato’

Answer 18

• Plosive
• Highlights how he is at the peak of his passionate, perhaps aggressive emotions which he feels
• This is in contrast to the gentle, comfortable past he is feeling these emotions for

Question 19

‘flood of rememberance’

Answer 19

• Metaphorical, figuartive language
• Shows the power of memory to affect someones emotions in a somewhat aggressive way

Question 20

‘my manhood is cast’ and ‘I weep like a child’

Answer 20

• Similie
• Shows how he feels he has lost his masculinity from the flood of emotions he is feeling