Sound Symbolism
Task E - 'Piano'
In the excerpt from 'Piano' by D. H. Lawrence below, the highlighted
words are sound symbolic. The effect here is quite complex, and involves
a sort of 'double take' in terms of viewpoint.
Write down (i) what you think the effects are and
(b) what phonetic characteristics relate to these effects. Then compare
your findings with ours.
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
(D. H. Lawrence  ,
'Piano')
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