Please Hold - Ciaran O’Driscoll
Stanza/ Quotation Theme Analysis Device
Line
Title ‘Please Hold’ Standard phrase used when on the
phone.
1/1 ‘my wife says.’ Romantic relation. The full stop
gives a sense of finality.
1/2-3 ‘it’s the same as Bathos.
the present’
1/3 ‘says’ Repetition of ‘says’. Present tense
suggests that it happens regularly.
1/4 ‘a robot on the Impersonal technology shown
phone’ through impersonal article ‘a’. Fits
in with the Romantic view of the
city. Wordsworth.
1/6 ‘none of which Constant bathos and
answer to my disappointment. Making promises
needs’ then taking it back.
1/7,9 ‘Wonderful’ Capital letters (especially in the
‘Great’ middle of the sentence) show false
enthusiasm.
1/8,10 ‘telephone Repetition of ‘number’ is
number’ dehumanising and impersonal. It
‘account number’ also suggests that this new society
is obsessed with money.
Nietzsche's definition of hell is
repetition. Nihilistic view.
1/16 ‘pay for nothing’ Frustration. Repetition of ‘nothing’.
Increasing rage contrasts with the
bonhomie of the robot.
1/19 ‘I shout’ This verb contrasts with the placid
‘says’ that has been repeated
several times already.
1/25 ‘Yes or No’ Life reduced to monosyllabic
responses. Like in a Jean Paul
Sartre play.
1/28- ‘talk to someone Bathetic.
29 real, who is just as
robotic’
1/30 ‘I scream’ Mounting hysteria - escalation
from ‘shout’.
1/30 ‘cut off.’ Line cuts off, enacting the cut
telephone line. Possibly meta.
1/35 ‘no options’ In reality there are no options.
1/38 ‘Eine Kleine Beauty is besmirched as Mozart is
Stanza/ Quotation Theme Analysis Device
Line
Title ‘Please Hold’ Standard phrase used when on the
phone.
1/1 ‘my wife says.’ Romantic relation. The full stop
gives a sense of finality.
1/2-3 ‘it’s the same as Bathos.
the present’
1/3 ‘says’ Repetition of ‘says’. Present tense
suggests that it happens regularly.
1/4 ‘a robot on the Impersonal technology shown
phone’ through impersonal article ‘a’. Fits
in with the Romantic view of the
city. Wordsworth.
1/6 ‘none of which Constant bathos and
answer to my disappointment. Making promises
needs’ then taking it back.
1/7,9 ‘Wonderful’ Capital letters (especially in the
‘Great’ middle of the sentence) show false
enthusiasm.
1/8,10 ‘telephone Repetition of ‘number’ is
number’ dehumanising and impersonal. It
‘account number’ also suggests that this new society
is obsessed with money.
Nietzsche's definition of hell is
repetition. Nihilistic view.
1/16 ‘pay for nothing’ Frustration. Repetition of ‘nothing’.
Increasing rage contrasts with the
bonhomie of the robot.
1/19 ‘I shout’ This verb contrasts with the placid
‘says’ that has been repeated
several times already.
1/25 ‘Yes or No’ Life reduced to monosyllabic
responses. Like in a Jean Paul
Sartre play.
1/28- ‘talk to someone Bathetic.
29 real, who is just as
robotic’
1/30 ‘I scream’ Mounting hysteria - escalation
from ‘shout’.
1/30 ‘cut off.’ Line cuts off, enacting the cut
telephone line. Possibly meta.
1/35 ‘no options’ In reality there are no options.
1/38 ‘Eine Kleine Beauty is besmirched as Mozart is
