Topic:
Please Hold by Ciaran O’Driscoll
Key Points/Arguments
Themes Literary/Dramatic Devices Techniques of whole poem
Language and ‘this is the future, my wife says’ – declarative, sets serious tone for poem, heteroglossia opinion Tercet of final stanza emphasises draw
truth – what is ‘and it’s the same’ – blends present and future as inescapable backs of tech and lack of
meant to be ‘I’m talking to a robot on the phone’ – metaphor for life, digs at tech communication, trapping nature.
understood ‘countless options / none of which answer to my needs’ – endless opps juxtapose next line
‘wonderful’ – hyperbolic yet useless Comic battle created through dialogue
and what is
‘when I give him my telephone number’ – pronoun shows urge to speak to human, personification between man and machine as he
inferred ‘I have a wonderful telephone number’ – sarcasm, frustration with adjectives responds the automated prompts with
Society and ‘into my account (which is really the robots account)’ – parenthesis, feels out of control monosyllabic phatic terms like ‘Great’
Culture – ‘free of charge…but im paying for it’ – antithesis, taking his time
shifts over ‘and my wife says, this is the future’ – chiasmic to start, she is speaking in flat robot tone, starting to Deliverers diatribe about the
time merge contradictory nature of the automated
Power – its ‘im sorry, I don’t understand’ – robot competes with lack of emotion of wife, redundant emotive language statements ‘your call is not important
importance ‘you can say yes, no, repeat or menu’ – listing is repetitive to them’
Technology – ‘I scream agent! And am cut off’ – exclamatory, reaching breaking point, semantic field of harsh verbs and
impact on isolation
‘And I’m talking to a robot on the phone’ – repetition from man himself, merging as well Ending grow old grow cold, shows
humans machines replaces human interactins,
‘no options…countless alternatives’ – antithesis
Comical but (bank closures)
‘Eine Kleine x2, Eine fucking’ – anaphora, Mozart music develops showing anger (hes merging)
closing lines ‘Your call is important to us’ cyclical structure, he is entrapped
have darker ‘Grow Old. Grow Cold.’ – less of humanity and warmth emphasised by caesuras, inescapable, like Presents ideas through overlapping
message life/death/weather voices
‘this is the future. Please Hold’ – bleak, final repetition, cyclical structure mirror title -trapped
Please Hold by Ciaran O’Driscoll
Key Points/Arguments
Themes Literary/Dramatic Devices Techniques of whole poem
Language and ‘this is the future, my wife says’ – declarative, sets serious tone for poem, heteroglossia opinion Tercet of final stanza emphasises draw
truth – what is ‘and it’s the same’ – blends present and future as inescapable backs of tech and lack of
meant to be ‘I’m talking to a robot on the phone’ – metaphor for life, digs at tech communication, trapping nature.
understood ‘countless options / none of which answer to my needs’ – endless opps juxtapose next line
‘wonderful’ – hyperbolic yet useless Comic battle created through dialogue
and what is
‘when I give him my telephone number’ – pronoun shows urge to speak to human, personification between man and machine as he
inferred ‘I have a wonderful telephone number’ – sarcasm, frustration with adjectives responds the automated prompts with
Society and ‘into my account (which is really the robots account)’ – parenthesis, feels out of control monosyllabic phatic terms like ‘Great’
Culture – ‘free of charge…but im paying for it’ – antithesis, taking his time
shifts over ‘and my wife says, this is the future’ – chiasmic to start, she is speaking in flat robot tone, starting to Deliverers diatribe about the
time merge contradictory nature of the automated
Power – its ‘im sorry, I don’t understand’ – robot competes with lack of emotion of wife, redundant emotive language statements ‘your call is not important
importance ‘you can say yes, no, repeat or menu’ – listing is repetitive to them’
Technology – ‘I scream agent! And am cut off’ – exclamatory, reaching breaking point, semantic field of harsh verbs and
impact on isolation
‘And I’m talking to a robot on the phone’ – repetition from man himself, merging as well Ending grow old grow cold, shows
humans machines replaces human interactins,
‘no options…countless alternatives’ – antithesis
Comical but (bank closures)
‘Eine Kleine x2, Eine fucking’ – anaphora, Mozart music develops showing anger (hes merging)
closing lines ‘Your call is important to us’ cyclical structure, he is entrapped
have darker ‘Grow Old. Grow Cold.’ – less of humanity and warmth emphasised by caesuras, inescapable, like Presents ideas through overlapping
message life/death/weather voices
‘this is the future. Please Hold’ – bleak, final repetition, cyclical structure mirror title -trapped
