Piano Flashcards
softly
sibilance
soft soothing sound of woman singing
tacking me back down the ‘vista’ of years
imagery
implies that the music takes him back into a distant past of his childhood
(vista = distant view)
a child
the speaker uses indefinite article as if he’s observing himself as a child in his memory - disassociated
sitting ‘under the piano’
symbolises his mother’s protection and implies she was a dominant maternal presence in his life
‘boom’ of the ‘tingling’ strings
onomatopoeia
makes the scene vivid for the reader
who smiles as she sings
sibilance
soothing, gentle mood
in spite of myself
sibilance becomes harsher
emphasises his resistance to remembering his past
together with adjectives ‘insidious’ which implies the memory is harmful or upsetting
‘betrays’ me back
verb
he doesn’t want to remember as it makes him sad but the memory is too strong for him to resist
the heart of me weeps
personification
grief for the past, a sad nostalgia
to the old sunday evenings at home
nostalgic - he longs to be a child again
the tinkling piano our ‘guide’
piano sounds transports him back to his childhood - its the catalyst for his memories
so now it is ‘vain’
piano and song has already transported him back in time and he cannot change the past
the ‘glamour’
he views his childhood and past idealistically
my manhood is cast
down
caesura
contrasts the present with the past - the woman singing with his childhood
‘flood’ of remembrance
metaphor
overwhelming memories - almost like he’s submerged in memories of the past
