The following excerpt has been taken from the poem Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka. What does 'pipped' mean here?
Voice, when it came,
Lipstick coated, long gold-rolled
Cigarette-holder pipped.
Caught I was, foully.
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Sign up to join this communityThe following excerpt has been taken from the poem Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka. What does 'pipped' mean here?
Voice, when it came,
Lipstick coated, long gold-rolled
Cigarette-holder pipped.
Caught I was, foully.
"Pipped", I think, is used with poetic license, here. My initial inclination is that it is describing the affectation of 'the voice' that is caused by the clenched teeth and lips required to keep the cigarette holder from dropping out of the mouth while speaking. An exaggerated aspiration of the [P] sound is quite inevitable. Google "The Penguin" from the "Batman" TV series to get a better idea of what I'm trying to describe.
The line "Lipstick coated, long gold-rolled Cigarette-holder pipped" is clearly the description of the voice. Smokers have a raspy voice because of thick phlegm and irritation in the voice box. MW defines pip as an irritation or human ailment. The origin of the word is loosely based on the the Latin term pituita meaning phlegm. Smokers are prone to suffer from talking in a low-pitched voice.
see: Bogart-Bacall syndrome.
Source: Merriam-Webster
Having looked at the poem, it appears that "pipped" in this line serves as a verb.
To pip = to peep or chirp as a bird.
It means when a Cigarette Holder is lighted initially it produces a peep sound.