Piano and Drums Essays

Piano and Drums Essays Piano and Drums Paper Piano and Drums Paper Essay Topic: The Piano How is the relationship of the poet to the past explored in Digging and either Our History or Piano and Drums? The relationship of the poet to the past is explored in Digging and Piano and Drums through themes of the poets heritage and the change that has occurred between the past and the present. However, Piano and Drums and Digging differ in the way they describe their connection with the past. For example, in Piano and Drums, Okara draws a parallel between how his life in the African culture was disturbed by Western invasion and how drums reminds him of his African past whereas the piano only makes him feel pain. On the other hand, in Digging, Seamus Heaney uses fewer metaphors and instead uses specific diction, such as single syllable words, to convey his attachment to the past. Heaney portrays his fondness for his father and grandfather in Digging through using affectionate terms and describing how hard they work as well as the way he describes digging potatoes. For example, Heaney calls his father old man in stanza five, which conveys to the reader a sense of affection as well as respect; a theme that is carried through the whole poem. An example of this is when his grandfather was drinking the milk and Heaney said he then fell to right away. This suggests his grandfather was a hard working committed man causing the reader to respect Heaneys grandfather. It is also suggested that Heaney would boast that his grand father would cut more turf in a day than any other man on Toners bog in stanza six. This again suggests admiration and affection from Heaney to his grandfather. Heaney also portrays a strong attachment to digging for potatoes and turf. He did this by using words such as nestled and loving when describing digging and the potatoes. Both of these words suggest that the father is comfortable with digging and he is at home when his foot is on the lug. Also, through out the poem, Heaney uses one syllable words such as lug, gun and sods. This recreates the rhythm of digging which is monosyllabic in its self. It could also be in reference to the fact that digging is a very simple action so simple words can be used to describe it. Throughout Piano and Drums the relationship of the poet to the past is explored through how he feels about African and western music. For example, in stanza two, Okara describes how he feels when he hears the drums. He says, topples the years and at one Im in my mothers lap a suckling. This suggests that hearing African drums takes him back to his childhood. This is similar to Digging in that when Heaney hears the rasping of the spade sinking in to the ground, he remembers his childhood when his grandfather used to dig turf. However, unlike Digging, in the first stanza Okara thinks of the beginning, meaning the beginning of Africa. This suggests to the reader that Okara has a real sense of patriotism and belonging to Africa. Okara also explores the invasion of the Colonies as apart of his past. He uses the analogy that their interruption is like the piano (a western instrument) interrupting the drums. This gives a very modern impression on the reader of something that happened many years ago. Also, while Okara is describing the piano music he uses musical words; however, he uses them in such a way that it does not make sense. This suggests that he can make sense of them in his culture because drumbeats, to him, are simple yet more symbolic. In that same stanza Okara uses the word complex twice suggesting that the past is simpler, like a drumbeat. However, also in that stanza are very forceful words such as coaxing and daggerpoint. This suggests that the poet feels threatened by the invasion. In conclusion, Digging is more like a memory than Piano and Drums. For example the rhyme is very structured at the beginning of digging but becomes more relaxed as the memory takes over and the sounds of the words become more important. Therefore, digging is more like memory; you remember things in as unpredictable way so the structure is unpredictable. Also, Okara uses music to explore his past where as Heaney writes more literally.