The Opening of the Piano
IN the little southern parlor of the house you may have seenWith the gambrel-roof, and the gable looking westward to the green,At the side toward the sunset, with the window on its right,Stood the London-made piano I am dreaming of to-night!
Ah me I how I remember the evening when it came!What a cry of eager voices, what a group of cheeks in flame,When the wondrous box was opened that had come from over seas,With its smell of mastic-varnish and its flash of ivory keys!
Then the children all grew fretful in the restlessness of joy,For the boy would push his sister, and the sister crowd the boy,Till the father asked for quiet in his grave paternal way,But the mother hushed the tumult with the words, "Now, Mary, play."
For the dear soul knew that music was a very sovereign balm;She had sprinkled it over Sorrow and seen its brow grow calm,In the days of slender harpsichords with tapping tinkling quills,Or carolling to her spinet with its thin metallic thrills.
So Mary, the household minstrel, who always loved to please,Sat down to the new "Clementi," and struck the glittering keys.Hushed were the children's voices, and every eye grew dim,As, floating from lip and finger, arose the "Vesper Hymn."
Catharine, child of a neighbor, curly and rosy-red,(Wedded since, and a widow,--something like ten years dead,)Hearing a gush of music such as none before,Steals from her mother's chamber and peeps at the open door.
Just as the "Jubilate" in threaded whisper dies,"Open it! open it, lady!" the little maiden cries,(For she thought 't was a singing creature caged in a box she heard,)"Open it! open it, lady! and let me see the bird!"
Words in this poem
- gambrel n.
- The hind leg of a horse. [OF. gambe, jambe leg, F. jambe. Cf. Cambrel, Chambrel, and see Gambol. n.]
- gable n.
- A cable. Chapman.
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
- vesper n.
- The evening star; Hesper; Venus, when seen after sunset; hence, the evening. [L., the evening, the evening star, the west; akin to Gr. west. Cf. Hesperian, Vespers.]
- wedded a.
- Joined in wedlock; married.
- jubilate n.
- The third Sunday after Easter; -- so called because the introit is the 66th Psalm, which, in the Latin version, begins with the words, [L., imperat. of jubilare to shout for joy.]
- caged a.
- Confined in, or as in, a cage; like a cage or prison.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Opening of the Piano is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Volume 06 Poems from the Breakfast Table Series, Project Gutenberg ebook #7393; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Opening of the Piano, in Poems from the Breakfast-Table Series (1858), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7393, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/holmes-breakfast-table-poems/the-opening-of-the-piano.html, id L23578.
Form and metre
The Opening of the Piano is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. The metre is trochaic octameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 75%).
See other poems in trochaic octameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABB seenA · greenA · rightB · nightB
- 2 AABB cameA · flameA · seasB · keysB
- 3 AABB joyA · boyA · wayB · playB
- 4 AABB balmA · calmA · quillsB · thrillsB
- 5 AABB pleaseA · keysA · dimB · hymnB
- 6 AABB redA · deadA · beforeB · doorB
- 7 AABB diesA · criesA · heardB · birdB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against trochaic octameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| IN the little southern parlor of the house you may have seen | 15 | ··/˘/˘/˘······· |
| With the gambrel-roof, and the gable looking westward to the green, | 16 | ··/˘···/˘/˘/˘··· |
| At the side toward the sunset, with the window on its right, | 15 | ······/···/˘··· |
| Stood the London-made piano I am dreaming of to-night! | 15 | ··/˘·˘/˘··/˘··· |
| Ah me I how I remember the evening when it came! | 14 | ·····˘/˘·/˘··· |
| What a cry of eager voices, what a group of cheeks in flame, | 15 | ····/˘/˘······· |
| When the wondrous box was opened that had come from over seas, | 15 | ··/˘··/˘······· |
| With its smell of mastic-varnish and its flash of ivory keys! | 15 | ····/˘/˘····/˘· |
| Then the children all grew fretful in the restlessness of joy, | 15 | ··/˘··/˘··/˘˘·· |
| For the boy would push his sister, and the sister crowd the boy, | 15 | ······/˘··/˘··· |
| Till the father asked for quiet in his grave paternal way, | 15 | ··/˘··/˘···˘/˘· |
| But the mother hushed the tumult with the words, "Now, Mary, play." | 15 | ··/˘··/˘····/˘· |
| For the dear soul knew that music was a very sovereign balm; | 15 | ······/˘··/˘/˘· |
| She had sprinkled it over Sorrow and seen its brow grow calm, | 15 | ··/˘···/˘······ |
| In the days of slender harpsichords with tapping tinkling quills, | 15 | ····/˘/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Or carolling to her spinet with its thin metallic thrills. | 15 | ·/˘˘··/˘···˘/˘· |
| So Mary, the household minstrel, who always loved to please, | 15 | ·/˘·/·/˘·/˘·˘·· |
| Sat down to the new "Clementi," and struck the glittering keys. | 15 | ·····˘/˘···/˘˘· |
| Hushed were the children's voices, and every eye grew dim, | 15 | ·˘··/˘/˘·/˘˘··· |
| As, floating from lip and finger, arose the "Vesper Hymn." | 14 | ·/˘···/˘˘/·/˘· |
| Catharine, child of a neighbor, curly and rosy-red, | 13 | /˘···/˘/˘·/˘· |
| (Wedded since, and a widow,--something like ten years dead,) | 13 | /˘···/˘/˘···· |
| Hearing a gush of music such as none before, | 12 | /˘···/˘····· |
| Steals from her mother's chamber and peeps at the open door. | 14 | ···/˘/˘····/˘· |
| Just as the "Jubilate" in threaded whisper dies, | 12 | ···/˘˘·/˘/˘· |
| "Open it! open it, lady!" the little maiden cries, | 14 | /˘·/˘·/˘·/˘/˘· |
| (For she thought 't was a singing creature caged in a box she heard,) | 16 | ······/˘/˘······ |
| "Open it! open it, lady! and let me see the bird!" | 14 | /˘·/˘·/˘······ |
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