Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Derek Walcott’s "Piano Practice" is a vivid and reflective poem that contemplates the tension between the modern world and the fading echoes of a more romantic, bygone era. The poem is rich with imagery, juxtaposing scenes of urban life with cultural and historical allusions, as it explores themes of artistic inspiration, nostalgia, and the inevitable passage of time. Addressed to the late poet Mark Strand, Walcott pays homage to the role of the artist in a changing world, where memory, art, and place intermingle.

The opening line situates the poem in “April, in another fortnight, metropolitan April,” immediately establishing a sense of time and location. The “metropolitan” setting, likely New York City, is described in terms of the onset of spring, where the drizzle “glazes the museum’s entrance” like eyes clouded with emotion. The speaker observes the physical transformation of the city as spring approaches—“the asphalt shines like a silk hat” and the “fountains trot like percherons round the Met”—infusing the scene with both delicacy and a sense of ritual. The fountains, compared to horses, conjure images of a grand, elegant past, while the “Belle Epoque Manhattan” references the romanticized turn of the 20th century, a time of cultural flourishing.

The cityscape that Walcott describes is hazy, like “Impressionist clichés,” reflecting a blurring of past and present. The concrete flowers and chipped pediments on the buildings seem to be remnants of a previous era, still holding traces of their former grandeur. The subway, described in “Byzantine mosaic,” mixes the ancient with the modern, suggesting that even the most functional, everyday aspects of urban life are imbued with historical layers.

Walcott weaves in a reflection on the end of the century, with references to the “old Laforguean ache,” a nod to the French poet Jules Laforgue, known for his melancholic and ironic verse. The speaker feels a “collage of a closing century,” hinting at the fragmentation and complexity of modern life as it transitions into a new era. This sense of transition is further emphasized by the deserted plazas and rain-polished cobblestones, as the speaker recalls a time when Europe seemed to fold in on itself, symbolized by the final passing of a curtained carriage.

In a moment of historical and personal reflection, the speaker notes, “Now fever reddens the trouble spots of the globe,” grounding the poem in the present, where political unrest and global strife are all too common. Yet, the speaker also seeks solace in the everyday, suggesting a search for life in the mundane: “come, girl, get your raincoat, let’s look for life / in some cafe behind tear-streaked windows.” The speaker expresses a hope that the romanticism of the “fin de siècle” period might still persist, if only in fragments—perhaps in a piano playing somewhere in the background, providing a connection to the past through music.

The speaker’s relationship with the Muse, a symbol of artistic inspiration, is both tender and frustrating. When the Muse pleads a headache, it suggests that the spark of creativity is elusive, perhaps even tired or uninterested in engaging with a world that has moved beyond its romantic ideal. The speaker’s frustration with the lack of inspiration mirrors a broader feeling of disillusionment, as he “passed the flowers in stone, the sylvan pediments, / alone.” This isolation is emphasized when the speaker admits, “It wasn’t I who shot the archduke,” distancing himself from the historical tragedies that have shaped the modern world, yet acknowledging his place in its aftermath.

As the poem moves toward its conclusion, the speaker’s reflections on Paris and New York further deepen the theme of disconnection. The Seine, which may “outshine the East River,” serves as a symbol of the old world’s cultural dominance, contrasting with the gritty, industrial reality of New York. Yet, the poem ends with a surprising twist: near the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a steel tenor pan, a Caribbean musical instrument, plays “something from old Vienna,” blending the modern with the traditional, the Caribbean with the European. The scales from the pan “skittering like minnows across the sea” evoke movement, fluidity, and a merging of cultures and histories.

In "Piano Practice," Walcott captures the complexity of living in a world where history and modernity coexist uneasily, where the romantic ideals of the past are often at odds with the realities of the present. Through rich imagery and a meditative tone, the poem explores the challenges of artistic creation and the search for meaning in a world that is constantly shifting. Ultimately, Walcott finds beauty and resonance in the blending of cultures and time periods, suggesting that art—whether it be a steel pan or a piano—has the power to transcend boundaries and connect us to something greater than ourselves.

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