1a. In lines 1–4, which of its own physical parts does the speaker describe? What action is the speaker performing in these lines?
2a. What does the piano's "paper" do? What does it "broadcast"? What does not have "a hand" in the piano's notes?
3a. In lines 11 and 12, what does the piano say never happens?
1b. Which parts of the speaker seem humanlike? which seem machine-like?
2b. Based on the description in lines 5 and 6, how would you describe the music the piano plays? Explain whether the piano is correct in its assumption about who does not have a hand in its notes.
3b. Based on lines 11 and 12, in what ways is the player piano better than a human pianist? In what ways is it worse?
4a. Identify words or phrases in the poem that sound especially musical to you.
4b. Why might the author have tried especially to make this poem sound musical?
5a. Imagine that you are the person listening to the player piano's music. What is your attitude toward the piano and its music? Do you enjoy it more or less than you would a human pianist?
5b. Use your imagination to decide what you think another machine might say. What the machine has to say will depend on the type of machine it is, so for inspiration, think about what machines there are in your home or school. What would your machine have to say about itself and its situation?
Onomatopoeia. What examples of onomatopoeia can you find in this poem?
Alliteration and Assonance. Find at least three examples of alliteration and three examples of assonance in "Player Piano." What is the effect of the use of these techniques in the poem?
Synonyms and Antonyms. For each of the following words, write down three synonyms and three antonyms.
caper synonyms: antonyms:
din synonyms: antonyms:
flicker synonyms: antonyms:
Achieving Parallelism. A sentence has parallelism when it uses the same grammatical forms to express ideas of equal, or parallel, importance.
Example
Faulty: I really like playing chess, walking my dog, and vacations in Florida. Parallel: I really like playing chess, walking my dog, and taking vacations in Florida.
Make the following sentences parallel.
1. I love jogging, biking, and to take hikes.
2. The child is outgoing, smart, and always making us laugh.
3. My duties at the library were to shelve books and answering the telephone.
4. Missy is more interested in talking on the phone than to do her homework.
5. Not only must you have your homework done, but also arrive on time.
6. My dog likes to chase its tail, to bark at cars, and playing fetch.
7. Juan will complete the course by writing an essay and the submission of a book report.
8. Our coach had us practice shooting baskets and the completion of passes.
9. For my birthday I wanted a pair of jeans, a set of golf clubs, and money.
10. On our vacation we ate new foods, saw a play, and swam.
