Paragraph 1 - Introduction
Nostalgia is the desire of things from the past, feeling homesick or remembering a person. This is the central Idea of the three poems; D.H.Lawrence’s ‘Piano’, Alice Walker’s ‘Poem at Thirty-Nine’ & Gabriel Okara’s ‘Once Upon a Time’ convey that they miss their earlier life or wish for a better past.
Paragraph 2 - Write the theme of the first poem.
D.H. Lawrences ‘Piano’ is a representation of longing of his past with his mother. The music has a very powerful effect on him and starts to bring back memories of the time he had spent sitting at his mother’s feet. This shows us how much Lawrence misses his childhood.
Paragraph 3 - Theme of the second poem.
Alice Walker’s ‘Poems at thirty-nine’ is a semi-autobiography about a woman with a hard working father who was trying to make a living, so having to end up spend less time with her when she was born but also how she misses her father.
Paragraph 4 - Theme of the third poem.
Gabriel Okara’s ‘Once Upon a Time’ shows us how the process of growing up gradually removed the innocence of his childhood, about how people change over the years and become untrustworthy and live false lives.
Paragraph 5 - Write the summary of the first poem.
D.H. Lawrence’s poem ‘Piano’ shows a man remembering his childhood when he heard a woman singing during the evening then talks about the longing for his childhood. The poem consists of 3 short stanzas but really shows the imagery quite clearly. The first stanza talks about a woman singing and playing the piano which takes him down a trip on memory lane. The music reminds him of the time he was sitting under the piano with his mother gracefully playing the piano while at the same time singing along. On the other hand in the second stanza we are able to see that he creates a conflict with himself that he has to give up remembering about the past and that he can’t let his emotions take control over him,