Leena Ramlakhan 12RL Saturday 1st December 2018
Compare the ways in which aspects of modern life are presented in ‘Please Hold’ and ‘Ode
on a Grayson Perry Urn’.
A parallel that can be drawn from ‘Please Hold’ by Ciaran O’Driscoll and ‘Ode on a Grayson
Perry Urn’ by Tim Turnbull is that they both focus on aspects of contemporary life in
contrasting ways. ‘Please Hold’ focuses the frustrations of modern technology by exploring
the speaker’s unproductive phone call to an automated telephone answering service.
Whereas, ‘Ode on a Grayson Perry Urn’ is concerned with the speaker’s reflection on an
artefact by the ceramic artist Grayson Perry that presents modern life in Britain.
Firstly, ‘Please Hold’ takes the form of a dramatic monologue from the perspective of a man
feeling disenchanted with his telephone conversation to a “robot”. There is a discrepancy
between the speaker’s worldview on modern life and his wife’s. The speaker’s cynical
attitude towards technological advancements is conveyed through his satirical tone. He
unenthusiastically remarks that he is “on the phone to a robot”. The noun “robot” strips the
automated service of any human qualities it mimics and implies the speaker’s desire to be
“on the phone” with a real human instead. Meanwhile, his wife is more optimistic about
the way society is progressing, which is shown in the repetition of “This is the future, my
wife says” that continually interrupts the speaker, adding to his already stressful
conversation with the “robot”.
On the other hand, ‘Ode on a Grayson Perry Urn’ takes on a conversational tone presenting
its speaker stumbling upon an urn depicting the underbelly of modern life in Britain. The
title is an allusion to John Keat’s romantic poem ‘Ode to a Grecian Urn,’ and it structurally
mirrors literature from the romantic era because it is written in iambic pentameter.
However, Turnbull’s poem does not feature the same glamorous and beautiful aspects of
life in contrast to traditional works of literature. This intertextuality is used for comic
misinterpretation, as typically poets would look at pieces of art through romantic eyes.
Moreover, Turnbull displays the stark reality of unpleasant modern life. The poem breaks
free from romantic era tradition with enjambment representing the chaotic and confusing
nature of modern life, and symbolises the skidding of the cars with wheels that “will not lose
traction, skid and flip, no harm befall these children”. Turnbull juxtaposes this dangerous
Compare the ways in which aspects of modern life are presented in ‘Please Hold’ and ‘Ode
on a Grayson Perry Urn’.
A parallel that can be drawn from ‘Please Hold’ by Ciaran O’Driscoll and ‘Ode on a Grayson
Perry Urn’ by Tim Turnbull is that they both focus on aspects of contemporary life in
contrasting ways. ‘Please Hold’ focuses the frustrations of modern technology by exploring
the speaker’s unproductive phone call to an automated telephone answering service.
Whereas, ‘Ode on a Grayson Perry Urn’ is concerned with the speaker’s reflection on an
artefact by the ceramic artist Grayson Perry that presents modern life in Britain.
Firstly, ‘Please Hold’ takes the form of a dramatic monologue from the perspective of a man
feeling disenchanted with his telephone conversation to a “robot”. There is a discrepancy
between the speaker’s worldview on modern life and his wife’s. The speaker’s cynical
attitude towards technological advancements is conveyed through his satirical tone. He
unenthusiastically remarks that he is “on the phone to a robot”. The noun “robot” strips the
automated service of any human qualities it mimics and implies the speaker’s desire to be
“on the phone” with a real human instead. Meanwhile, his wife is more optimistic about
the way society is progressing, which is shown in the repetition of “This is the future, my
wife says” that continually interrupts the speaker, adding to his already stressful
conversation with the “robot”.
On the other hand, ‘Ode on a Grayson Perry Urn’ takes on a conversational tone presenting
its speaker stumbling upon an urn depicting the underbelly of modern life in Britain. The
title is an allusion to John Keat’s romantic poem ‘Ode to a Grecian Urn,’ and it structurally
mirrors literature from the romantic era because it is written in iambic pentameter.
However, Turnbull’s poem does not feature the same glamorous and beautiful aspects of
life in contrast to traditional works of literature. This intertextuality is used for comic
misinterpretation, as typically poets would look at pieces of art through romantic eyes.
Moreover, Turnbull displays the stark reality of unpleasant modern life. The poem breaks
free from romantic era tradition with enjambment representing the chaotic and confusing
nature of modern life, and symbolises the skidding of the cars with wheels that “will not lose
traction, skid and flip, no harm befall these children”. Turnbull juxtaposes this dangerous
