D.h lawrence's "piano"poem; the meaning is conveyed through the tone

Essay by corza36College, UndergraduateB+, May 2004

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Bicycle, fish, airplane, hat, card, homework, swing, flower, picture, sunglasses, watermelon, puddle, school bus, and lawnmower are words that connect with people with his or her memories in some way. An instant word can bring memories back into his or her reality. Their memories can be so vivid that their dreams may feel like present day. The stream of consciousness can take one word and recreate your whole past. In the poem, "Piano", written by D.H. Lawrence, the narrator is affected by the word piano. A woman sings softly to him while he reminiscences about his childhood and his happy memories of his mother. The narrator feels betrayed by the song that has sparked him to rethink the recollections. In his remembrance, the narrator cries for his lost past. In "Piano", D.H. Lawrence conveys the meaning of the poem with very distinct tones in each stanza: in the first, the tone is mellow; in the second, bitterly resentful; and in the third, the narrator is melancholic.

In the first stanza, the meaning is expressed with the tone that is conveyed as warm, mellow and tranquil. Lawrence uses words and phrases such as "Softly"(L1) and "in the dusk"(L1). These words express the atmosphere the narrator is in while he reminisces about his past. The narrator dreams of playing the piano with his mother and being aware of all the senses that he felt. "Softly"(L1) is also connected with the word piano. In musical terms, piano means to play soft and the word guides you through the song. "A mother who smiles as she sings"(L4) is a pleasant memory for the narrator because he is unaware of his present surroundings of another woman singing. A mellow tone communicates to the reader that the narrator is in a dream like state of...