Pearson Edexcel International GCSE English Literature · specification 4ET1 · Component 1 | Section B: Anthology Poetry · Free · no account needed
Piano — D H Lawrence (4ET1 specification)
A woman's singing drags a grown man back to childhood against his will — and the poem resents the very nostalgia it performs.
Specification coverage
Component 1, Section B — Anthology Poetry (Part 3 of the Pearson Edexcel International GCSE English Anthology)
Assessment objectives: AO2, AO3. Suggested learning time: 60 minutes.
Required knowledge
- The present-tense scene is a woman singing in the evening; the memory is of the speaker as a child under a piano
- The speaker explicitly resists the memory even as it overwhelms him
- The poem ends with the adult weeping — the resistance fails
Required skills
- Analyse how language, form and structure create meanings and effects (AO2)
- Compare this poem with another from Part 3, including language, structure and form (AO3)
- Use appropriate literary terminology accurately
- Select relevant, short examples from the poem — it is printed in the paper, so precision is expected
How it is examined
- One 30-mark comparative essay, from a choice of two, comparing this poem with one other from Part 3
Common mistakes
- Describing it as 'a nice poem about memory'. Write about the RESISTANCE — the speaker does not want this.
- Ignoring the final line's collapse of the adult self.
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