CACOPHONY

CACOPHONY


Cacophony is harsh, discordant sounds. Opposite of euphony.

Example:
finger of birth-strangled babe.


Player Piano

My stick fingers click with a snicker
And, chuckling, they knuckle the keys;
Light footed, my steel feelers flicker
And pluck from these keys melodies.

My paper can caper; abandon
Is broadcast by dint of my din,
And no man or band has a hand in
The tones I turn on from within.

At times I'm a jumble of rumbles,
At others I'm light like the moon,
But never my numb plunker fumbles,
Misstrums me, or tries a new tune.

-John Updike-   
New Yorker 1954


Return to Literary Term Page