The Visitor by Gibbons Ruark Essay Example

disharmonious sounds of the untuned piano, is now replaced by enjambed sentences which lack punctuation, imitating the smooth and fluid sounds which can now be produced. Ruark moves on to depict the relationship between the piano tuner and the piano, showing intimacy as ‘he runs his finger along a wire’ (l. 8 and 9). He even ‘touches the dry rust to his tongue’, creating a sense of fondness without boundaries as one usually would not be expected to taste rust.

The tuner ‘breaks into a pure bliss’ (l. 0) when he discovers he is able to save the piano, breaking the silence not with more musical notes but with dialogue—“One year more of damp weather / Would have done you in, but I’ve saved it this/ Time. ”. This is the only form of verbal interaction between the people present, reflecting that there is a lack of intimacy even between the narrator and his wife, who was unmentioned until line 14. Even then, his wife remains enigmatic as the narrator merely states ‘My wife plays Stardust’, lacking any form of description which would hint affection.

The only form of relationship portrayed in the poem seems to be the strong bond between the piano tuner and the piano and the superficial development of a relationship between the tuner and the narrator’s wife as he ‘stands and smiles in her / Direction. ’ (l. 15 and 16). However, it is as though the tuner is the piano’s visitor and not the narrator and his wife. The tuner seems to be visiting an ill and old friend, the piano, and is delighted in the end to find out that he

is able to save the life of his companion.

It seems that the only people involved in the music seems to be capable of relationships as the narrator, only a distant observer in the piano, is the only one who lacks any form of interaction with the other characters. Although the tuner is now referred to as ‘the blind man’, as though he has lost his superiority to the narrator after accomplishing his task, the enchantment of music is reintroduced and reinforces the tuner’s supernatural transformation as he ‘disappears into the blaze / Of new October’ (l. 7 and 18), creating a sense of mystery, surrealism and independence, especially since the helper is unmentioned in his departure, thus inferring that he is no longer dependent.

The narrator, previously withdrawn and observant, now experiences music in a more intimate manner during a ‘long afternoon that blurs in a haze / Of music…’ (l. 18 and 19) The use of ‘long’, ‘haze’ and the ellipsis elicits a sense of languidness as the narrator travels back in time with music pieces such as ‘Chopin nocturnes, Clair de Lune, / All the old familiar, unfamiliar / Music-lesson pieces, Papa Hadyn’s / Dead and gone, gently down the stream…’ (l. 9 to 22). The use of ellipses here induces a sense of time-travel, as though the reader is slowly meandering back to the present with the narrator to where ‘Hours later, / …the latest car has doused its beams. ’ (l. 22 and 23).

The use of ‘latest’ to contrast greatly with the previous list of old music may be to perhaps accentuate the timelessness of music and it’s existence, which has survived

to the present. The absence of music causes the atmosphere to abruptly transform to a mysterious yet lethargic mood. The ‘car has doused its beams’ (l. 3) and their cat ‘with the grace of animals free / To move in darkness’ appears, creating a sense secrecy. The narrator is now fixed on his sense of hearing, noting that cars have ‘stopped its ticking’ (l. 24) and the ‘single lucid drop of water [which] star[s] [his] dream’ (l. 27) when the cat ‘strike[s] one key only’ (l. 26). By describing the note as ‘a single lucid drop of water’ (l. 27), Ruark effectively portrays the clarity and delicateness of the note, leaving the reader with an image of a musical note resonating through the air like ripples caused by a drop of water.

Throughout the poem, prose and enjambment accompanied with a line structure of approximately 9 syllables per line in the poem reflects the volatility of music and imitates the arrangement of music. Although music are often organized in bars of a set time, the notes do not stop at the end of each bar, the melody is free to run over multiple bars and stop midway, much like the enjambment of sentences Ruark has used.

The sensual imagery presented allows the reader to appreciate music and observe its delicate qualities through the narrator’s eyes, a detached observer in the poem who is uninterested in all but music. In the final lines, Ruark leaves a resonating imprint of music in our minds —its elegance, fluidity and power. And thus the poem ends with the familiar tune of the Clair de Lune, where music ultimately triumphs over anything

and everything else that is made noted in this poem