Piano Flashcards

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1
Q

Form

A

Narrative poem

add in the card about tingling strings

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2
Q

Main themes

A
  • Nostalgia and longing
  • Emotional
  • Childhood and family
  • Time
  • Music
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3
Q

Stanzaic structure

A
  • End stopped regular stanzas
  • Shows how his memory is neatly contained
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4
Q

Line length

A
  • 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
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5
Q

Metre

A
  • Troachic
  • Illustrates his longing to return to the past
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6
Q

Rhyme scheme

A
  • 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
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7
Q

Flashbacks

A
  • 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
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8
Q

‘Piano’

A

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

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9
Q

‘Softly’

A
  • Adverb
  • Highlights the gentleness and warmth he feels when remembering his past
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10
Q

‘Taking me back down the vista of years’

A
  • Shows how music instantly transported him back
  • The beautiful imagery of ‘vista’ highlights his longing for the past
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11
Q

‘A child is sitting under the piano’

A
  • Third person address to himself
  • Gives distance - shows how far he feels from what he once was
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12
Q

‘Boom’ and ‘Tinglings’

A
  • Onomatopoeias
  • Show how vivid his memory is
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13
Q

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

A
  • Graceful imagery and sibilance
  • The mother is portrayed in a positive way to show, again, his nostalgia for the comfort of the past
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14
Q

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

A

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

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15
Q

‘till the heart of me weeps to belong’

A
  • Synedoche and personification
  • Shows his great sadness for not being able to return to his past
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16
Q

‘with winter outside and hymns in the cosy parlour’

A

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

17
Q

‘the tinkling piano our guide’

A
  • Personification of piano and onomatopeia
  • Shows the simplicity of his life as a child, where his life was goverened by nothing but a piano
18
Q

‘With the great black piano appassionato’

A
  • 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
19
Q

‘flood of rememberance’

A
  • Metaphorical, figuartive language
  • Shows the power of memory to affect someones emotions in a somewhat aggressive way
20
Q

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

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