Piano by D.H Lawrence

In line 5, the speaker describes the “insidious mastery of song.” What does the word insidious most suggest about the speaker’s view of music?

• Music is harmless but trivial.

• Music exerts a subtle, even dangerous influence over him.

• Music provides comfort and stability in his adult life.

• Music has a religious, almost sacred quality.

The poem’s use of present tense (“a child sitting under the piano”) to describe past memories primarily suggests:

• That the speaker is confused about time.

• That memory feels vividly immediate, blurring past and present.

• That the speaker cannot distinguish between reality and imagination.

• That the speaker has forgotten the exact details of his childhood.

Which of the following best explains why the speaker describes himself as weeping “like a child for the past” rather than simply “weeping as a child”?

• To stress the emotional maturity he retains despite his sadness.

• To emphasise that he can imitate childlike emotion but never truly return to childhood.

• To suggest that his memories have completely overwhelmed his adult identity.

• To portray nostalgia as a universal, inevitable human experience.

The contrast between “winter outside” and the “cosy parlour” (line 7-8) most strongly symbolises:

• The separation between the harsh adult world and the warmth of childhood.

• The conflict between art and nature.

• The passage of time from one season to another.

• The difference between public music and private music.

Which poetic device most enhances the sense of irresistible flow in the poem, mirroring the speaker’s inability to resist memory?

• Quatrain rhyme scheme

• Enjambment across lines

• Caesura and pauses

• Repetition of the word “weep”

Why might the speaker view the present-day singer’s “clamour” as ultimately “vain”?

• Because she lacks the technical skill of his mother.

• Because passionate present music cannot compete with the overpowering allure of memory.

• Because he dislikes modern styles of performance.

• Because the piano itself is out of tune.

How does the symbol of “dusk” at the beginning of the poem function on a deeper level?

• It reflects the literal time of day the poem describes.

• It mirrors the in-between (liminal) state of the speaker—caught between adulthood and childhood.

• It symbolises the death of the speaker’s mother.

• It provides a sense of quietness and stillness, but without further symbolic weight.

In what way does Lawrence’s choice of rhyme scheme (rhyming couplets) reinforce the poem’s central themes?

• It highlights the artificiality of memory.

• It evokes the steady, songlike quality of childhood hymns and nursery rhymes.

• It creates a sense of dissonance, mirroring emotional conflict.

• It emphasises irregularity, reminding readers of lost innocence.

The phrase “flood of remembrance” (line 11-12) is best understood as:

• A metaphor for memory’s overwhelming, drowning effect on the adult speaker.

• A simile suggesting the speed of childhood recollections.

• An allusion to biblical floods, implying divine punishment.

• A description of tears caused by grief.

Taking the poem in its historical context (written shortly after Lawrence’s mother’s death), the speaker’s resistance to memory may reflect:

• His belief that Victorian values were superior to modernism.

• His struggle with grief, as recalling his mother is both comforting and unbearably painful.

• His rejection of traditional family life.

• His attempt to escape from the cultural dominance of music in Edwardian households.