Poems of the decade specific

Question 1

AO3 Points about Ciaran O’Driscoll

Answer 1

• Inspired by 20th century modernists such as TS Eliot and Saint-John Perse however he found their purity of their style at odds with his expression of anger at political folly and social injustice
• Political satirist

Question 2

What does the title Please hold suggest?

Answer 2

• Sense of detachment as it states to hold rather than asking the speaker to
• Describes the monotony of daily tasks in modern life as it expresses modern anxiety through insignificance
• Metaphor for the speaker’s feelings that he can’t catch up with the technological world and feels left behind

Question 3

How is the wife characterised?

Answer 3

• Disconnect in their relationship as she forces her husband to accept the future
• The wife’s voice is a refrain (something that is repeated) implies that she accepts the monotony of the future
• She is dominant in their relationship as her opinion that, “its the same as the present,” is asserted throughout the poem