Player Piano (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: John Updike
- First Published: 1956
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
The Poem
“Player Piano,” a quirky example of light verse from the early works of John Updike, demonstrates the well-known novelist’s penchant for showcasing the musical nature of language. The three-stanza poem, primarily in dactylic tetrameter (a form reminiscent of that of the limerick), describes a melody played by the mechanical “fingers” of a player piano:
My stick fingers click with a snicker
As, chuckling, they knuckle the keys;
Light-footed, my steel feelers flicker
And pluck from these keys melodies.
The...
[The entire page is 1474 words long]
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