The main theme of the poem "Piano" is the nostalgia that the speaker feels for his childhood with his mother. He describes the childhood as somewhat idyllic, in "the cosy parlour" with "winter outside" and his mother playing and singing at the piano. He also describes this feeling of nostalgia as emasculating, as he says that his "manhood / Is cast down in the flood of remembrance," and he is reduced to a child.

Another important theme is the power of music. The speaker's memories of his childhood are triggered by a piece of music he hears on the piano and the accompanying singing of the pianist. The music is so powerful as to transport him back to a different time, even "in spite of [him]self."

In terms of the style of the poem, it is written in the first person. This firstly emphasizes how personal these memories and experiences are for the speaker and secondly makes it easier for us, the readers, to empathize with the speaker. The poem is also written in the present tense ("a woman is singing to me"), which perhaps helps the speaker's memories to feel more immediate.

Lawrence also writes this poem with a strict rhyme scheme consisting of rhyming couplets ("me/see, strings/sings"). This adds to the musical rhythm of the poem and in turn reflects the significance of the piano music to the speaker.

"Piano," a poem by D.H. Lawrence, describes a man who is listening to a woman singing and playing the piano. This experience triggers the man's memory and takes him "back down the vista of years" until he can see himself (in his mind's eye) as a child listening to his mother playing the piano and singing.

The singing woman might "burst into clamour," but the "glamour" belongs to the man's "childish days," when he sat "in the cosy parlour" and sang hymns to the accompaniment of "the tinkling piano."

Although the man yearns for the past, he seems to realize that it is irretrievable, as he says: "I weep like a child for the past."

The poem consists of 3 stanzas, each of four lines. The rhyme scheme of each stanza is AA-BB. The lines of the poem are fairly long, mostly from 12-15 syllables each.

The poem is written in clear, standard modern English. There are several words that evoke the sound of the piano: tingling, tinkling, boom. There are also several words that tend to give the poem a tinge of romanticism: vista, insidious, appassionato.