The Piano Flashcards
Softly, in the dusk
Sibilance- soft soothing sound of woman singing
Vista of years
Vista- long extended view. Imagery implies that the music takes him back to the distant past of his childhood
A child
Indefinite article- disassociating himself/ observing himself
Under the piano
Symbolises his mother’s protection + implies she was a dominant maternal presence in his life
Spite, Insidious
Harsher sibilance- emphasises resistance to remembering his past. Insidious- implies memory is harmful or upsetting.
Song ‘Betrays’ him
Does not want to remember as it makes him sad but the memory is too strong to resist
Heart of me weeps
Personification. Grief for the past, sad nostalgia
Vain for the singer…
Piano music has already transported him back in time + he cannot change the past
The glamour
of childish days,
my manhood is cast
Down
Caesura. Contrasts the present with the past- woman singing with his childhood
Rhyming couplets- often found in love poetry- reflects love for + close bond with his mother as a child
Flood of remembrance
Coming back to him like an unstoppable force, overwhelming memories
I weep like a child for the past
Simile. Suggests crying makes the speaker feel emasculated- when the poem was written, displays of emotion, especially crying, was not considered masculine. Almost like speaker despises himself for his emotional weakness.
