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An Analysis Of Updike's "Player Piano" - Term Papers

An Analysis Of Updike's "Player Piano"



Evaluate the effectiveness of diction as an adjunct to meaning in John
Updike's "Player Piano".
In "Player Piano", John Updike uses personification to give life to
a ‘unhuman' piano. By using diction to communicate his ideas, he
effectively allows the reader to explore the psyche of a "Player Piano". In
the first couple lines of the poem, assonance and consonance are present.
In line one, these musical devices dominate the sentence as there is a
repetition of the "ick" sound in "stick", "click", and "snicker" suggesting
to the reader the sharpness of the piano, also reminding readers of the
constant clicking sound found in mechanical devices. The harsh "k" sounds
of the second line in ...

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in these three consecutive words evokes a feeling of rhythm or
harmony - pleasant sounds from the player piano.

The next stanza starts with an internal rhyme: "My paper can caper".
The simple rhyme suggests that the paper can leap and jump about like a
child. The connotation of the word "abandon" adds to this suggestion of
unrestrained movement or activity. The words "dint" and "din" are
alliterative, and the suggestion is that the "din" of the piano broadcasts
its sound far and wide. In line three of stanza two there is both internal
rhyme and assonance in "man", "band", and "hand". Updike tells us that the
piano has a sense of pride in its ability to produce its own music,
unassisted by any human hand. Of course there is irony in this because it
was a human who originally programmed the piano. The last two lines of the
second stanza are extremely rhythmic, and closely imitate the sort of
rhythm that comes from the piano as in the line: "The tones I turn on from
within." The ...

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An Analysis Of Updike's "Player Piano". (2007, February 14). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/An-Analysis-Of-Updikes-Player-Piano/60282
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"An Analysis Of Updike's "Player Piano"." Essayworld.com. February 14, 2007. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/An-Analysis-Of-Updikes-Player-Piano/60282.
"An Analysis Of Updike's "Player Piano"." Essayworld.com. February 14, 2007. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/An-Analysis-Of-Updikes-Player-Piano/60282.
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PAPER DETAILS
Added: 2/14/2007 04:58:38 AM
Category: Poetry & Poets
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 625
Pages: 3

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