Explain how the poet conveys powerful emotions in ‘Piano’
The writer uses onomatopoeia to convey powerful emotions
in the poem ‘Piano.’ This can be seen in the line ‘the boom of the tingling
strings.’ This line creates powerful emotions as it makes the reader feel what
the child in the poem was feeling, and shows just how much of an effect the
music had on the child. ‘Boom’ contrasts against ‘tingling.’ Whereas the use of
‘boom’ emphasises the power of the music and memory, ‘tingling’ is a much
softer and more soothing description. The writer has chosen to do this to show
the two sides to the memory felt by the child- the music though bringing him
peace and calming him at the time, is able to bring back strong and
overpowering memories. This suggests that, perhaps, the memory is bittersweet,
as the man looking back on his childhood can feel the strength of the effect
that the music has on him.
As the contrast between ‘boom’ and ‘tingling’ was used in
the first stanza, the writer uses another contrast in the second to show the
different emotions that the person is feeling as a child compared to being an
adult. This can be seen in the line ‘with winter outside and hymns in the cozy
parlor.’ This contrast between a safe, comforting place and a harsh,
unforgiving place emphasises the difference between childhood and adulthood,
‘winter’ being representative of growing up and ‘cozy parlor’ being childhood
innocence. The writer’s purpose in doing this was to show that the person
looking back on their memories feels the pain of nostalgia for a better time.
This conveys a powerful emotion, as it makes the reader remember their own past
and realise that growing up is very much like looking for a place where you
feel warm and protected to a place ‘outside’ where you must fend for yourself.
The writer uses the structure of the poem to further
emphasise how closely linked and powerful the memories are. For example, the
poem has a regular rhyme scheme of AABB. The use of rhyming couplets gives the
poem lyrical quality (reflective of the song at the heart of the poem) and,
therefore, adds to the sense of nostalgia. The person’s memories are so clear
in their mind that they flow like a song, showing that they are immersed in the
past and strengthening the emotion. Enjambment is also used for this reason, as
it shows that he is unable to stop the memories taking over (‘in spite of
myself.’)
Finally, the writer uses similes and metaphors to
strengthen the emotions felt by the person in the poem. ‘My manhood is cast’
and ‘flood of remembrance’ are both metaphors for how the man is feeling as he
is lost in his thoughts. ‘My manhood is cast’ shows that the man cannot go back
to his childhood, and that makes him sorrowful. It is also a memory for
‘fishing out’ a memory, showing that he must have had to relive many different
experiences and remember many different emotions in order to get to the memory
he is now at. This suggests he has, for some reason, suppressed that memory,
further suggesting it was not a completely joyful one. ‘Flood of remembrance’
shows that he has no control over his emotions. ‘Flood’ could mean tears, which
is suggested also in the next line, ‘I weep like a child for the past.’
However, it could also be emphasising how overcome with emotions the man is,
that it is like a flood, washing over him with no suggestion of stopping
anytime soon. As a flood is a quick and unpredictable event, it suggests that
he had forgotten how bittersweet the memory was, and was therefore taken aback
when the emotion overcame him. A simile is used in ‘weep like a child.’ This
shows that the man desires to be a child again, as everything was more carefree
in the past. This idea is clear throughout the poem, in the contrasts used and
the various language features.
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