I need help analysing Piano by D.H. Lawrence?

Question

What is the tone(s), who is the speaker, and what is the literal meaning?


Piano

SOFTLY, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me;
Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see
A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling strings
And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings.

In spite of myself, the insidious mastery of song
Betrays me back, till the heart of me weeps to belong
To the old Sunday evenings at home, with winter outside
And hymns in the cosy parlour, the tinkling piano our guide.

So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamour
With the great black piano appassionato. The glamour
Of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast
Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for the past.

Answer 1

i'd say the tone is typically lawrentian: nostalgic, sensitive to the moment and championing simplicity. notice how he manages to bring in physical touch (pressing the small, poised feet...") and how he alternates the smiling, singing womanwith his own weeping "in the flood of remembrance" (which has the sound of a funeral.)
it is classic Lawrence. He takes a pleasant moment and reverts it to self pity, but in a very plausible way, ie nostalgia. that is the literal meaning. the music and the setting reminds him of his childhood.

Answer 2

try here

http://www.cheathouse.com/essay/essay_view.php?p_essay_id=103805


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