- A woman's song takes the poet back to his childhood, when he would sit under the piano as his mother played and sang. - The melody reminds him of Sunday evenings spent in the parlour, singing hymns guided by the piano. - The poet loses himself in the flood of memories from his past, and his manhood dissolves as he weeps like a child for his lost childhood.

1. Can you identify this musical
instrument?

2. PIANO
D.H. LAWRENCE

3. PIANO – D.H.LAWRENCE
Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me;
Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see
A child is sitting under the piano in the boom of tingling strings
And pressing the small poised feet of a mother.
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.

4. D.H. LAWRENCE
POET: David Herbert
Richard Lawrence.
BORN: 11th Sep 1885 at
Eastwood in England.
DIED: 2nd March 1930 at
Venice in France.
This poem is about D.H.
Lawrence’s reminiscences
of his childhood days…

5. 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,
 A woman is singing a song softly.
 The poet hears the song.
 Her song takes him to his childhood
days.
 As a child he was sitting under the
piano.
 His mother was singing a song
while she was playing the piano.
 He touched her poised fingers.
 She smiled at him as she enjoyed
his gentle touch.
New words:
Dusk – evening time
Vista – view
Poised feet – balanced feet.

6. 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.
 The woman’s mastery over the song
reminds him of his boyhood days.
 His heart weeps for the Sunday
evenings.
 He used to sit in a cosy parlour and
sing hymns during winter season.
 They used to sing the hymns with the
guidance of the piano.
New Words:
Insidious – spreading gradually.
Hymns – songs in praise of God.
Cosy parlour – Comfortable private
room.

7. 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.
 The woman sings in high pitch.
 The poet’s mind is filled with his
old memories.
 So he couldn’t concentrate in the
song.
 He lost his manhood in the flood
of his old memories.
 He cries for the past like a child.
New Words:
Vain – uselessly
Clamour – shout loudly in a
confused way
Appassionato – The most
tempestuous
piano sonata.

8. Alliteration
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.

9. Rhyming Words & Rhyme scheme
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,
Rhyming words: me/mi/-see/siː/; strings/ˈstrɪŋs/-sings/sɪŋs/
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.
Rhyming words: song/sɒŋ/-belong/bɪˈlɒŋ/; outside /ˌaʊtˈsaɪd/ -guide/ɡaɪd/
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.
Rhyming words: clamour/ˈklæmə(r)/-glamour/ˈɡlæmə(r)/; cast/kɑːst/-past
/pɑːst/
Rhyming Scheme of the poem: aa, bb

10. Figures of Speech
PERSONIFICATION
-Attributing human qualities to non-living things.
“And hymns in the cosy parlour, the tinkling piano our guide.”
METAPHOR
- Metaphor is an indirect comparison. It compares two objects
without using the connective words ‘like’ and ‘as’.
“……………………………………………..my manhood is cast
Down in the flood of remembrance………………”
SIMILE
- It compares two objects through some connective words ‘like’ and ‘as’.
- “……………………………… I weep like a child for the past”

11. Figure of Speech
Onomatopoeia
-It is a word that imitates the sound of an object.
“A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling strings”
Onomatopoeic words: boom
tingling
“And hymns in the cosy parlour, the tinkling piano our guide”.
Onomatopoeic word: tinkling
“So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamour”
Onomatopoeic word: burst

12. Paragraph
 The poet listens to a woman’s song. It reminds
him of his childhood memories. When he was a
child, he used to sit under the piano and press his
mother’s feet while she sang songs. The woman
sings extremely well. But it couldn’t draw the
attention of the poet as he is immersed with his
boyhood days. In winter season they used to sing
hymns in a comfortable private room with the
guidance of piano. The poet lost his manhood in
the flood of his old memories and he cries for the
past like a child.

13. PoemComprehension
“Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me;”
1. Who is singing the song?
A woman is singing the song.
2. How is the woman singing?
She is singing softly.
3. When does she sing?
She sings in the evening.
4. Who does ‘me’ refer to?
‘Me’ refers to the poet.

14. “Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see
A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling
strings”
1. What is meant by ‘vista’?
‘Vista’ means a view.
2. Who does ‘I’ refer to?
‘I’ refers to the poet/ D.H. Lawrence.
3. Who is the child?
The poet/D.H. Lawrence is the child.
4. Where is the child sitting?
The child is sitting under the piano.

15. “And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she
sings,”
1. Who does ‘she’ refer to?
‘She’ refers to the poet’s mother.
2. What is the child doing?
The child is pressing the mother’s feet.
3. What is the mother’s reaction?
The mother smiles at the child.

16. “In spite of myself, the insidious, mastery of song
Betrays me back, till the heart of me weeps to belong”
1. What is meant by ‘insidious’?
Insidious means spreading gradually.
2. What betrays the poet?
The song of the woman betrays the poet.
3. What does his heart weep for?
His heart weeps for his childhood days.

17. “To the old Sunday evenings at home, with winter outside
And hymns in the cosy parlour, the tinkling piano our guide.”
1. What is the season mentioned here?
Winter is the season mentioned here.
2. What is meant by ‘hymns’?
‘Hymns’ mean songs in praise of God/ Devotional songs.
3. What is meant by cosy parlour?
Cosy parlour means a comfortable room.
4. Who is the guide referred here?
Piano is the guide.

18. “So now it is vain for the singer to burst into
clamour
With the great black piano appassionato. The
glamour”
1. Who is the singer?
The woman is the singer.
2. What is the appassionato?
It is the most tempestuous piano sonata considered
by Beethoven
3. What is meant by glamour?
Glamour means attraction.

19. “Of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast
Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for the
past.”
1. What is cast down in the flood of remembrance?
The poet’s manhood is cast down in the flood of
remembrance.
2. Who weeps like a child?
The poet weeps like a child.
3. How does the poet weep?
The poet weeps like a child.
4. What does the child weep for?
The poet weeps for the past/ childhood days.