piano
... see, and in some sense understand, the boy seated at the piano; and that we hear those long-ago sung hymns. The poem is also in the narrative and dramatic tradition, spearheaded by Robert Browning, which became so important in the 1800s. Finally, the poem tries, as most of Lawrence's work does, to go another level deep in interpreting human emotion; to see below what people reveal to what actually drives them. This perhaps impertinent goal has driven a lot of subsequent poetry. “Piano” by D. H. Lawrence The poem Piano, by D. H. Lawrence describes his memories of childhood. Hearing a woman singing takes him to the time when his mother played piano on Sunday evenings. In the present, this woman is singing and playing the piano with great passion. However, the passionate music is not effecting him, because he can only think about his childhood rather than the beauty of the music that exists in his actual space. “A woman is singing” softly to the speaker “in the dusk.” The speaker is describing the place he is at in the present moment. It’s partially dark, and a woman is singing to him. As he listens to the woman’s soft voice, he...