The Uncle Speaks in the Drawing Room (Leaving Cert English): Flashcards
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20 cards from this deck
Literary technique used in poem
Literary technique used in poem
Dramatic monologue - one character speaks to silent audience
Social group uncle represents
Social group uncle represents
Established elite - comfortable, entitled, threatened
Who protestors represent
Who protestors represent
Younger generation, disenfranchised, working class
Uncle's fear focuses on
Uncle's fear focuses on
Crystal vase & chandelier - objects not people
What privilege creates in poem
What privilege creates in poem
Moral blindness to legitimate social grievances
Uncle's dehumanising term for protestors
Uncle's dehumanising term for protestors
'Mob' - reducing them to threatening group
Crystal vase, chandelier, ruby bowl symbolise
Crystal vase, chandelier, ruby bowl symbolise
Inherited wealth, status, refinement through generations
Glass imagery represents
Glass imagery represents
Beauty, value, but also fragility of uncle's world
Uncle's formal diction reveals
Uncle's formal diction reveals
He's out of touch despite sounding educated
Protestors' silence in poem shows
Protestors' silence in poem shows
Their exclusion from decision-making in society
Literary technique Rich uses in this poem
Literary technique Rich uses in this poem
Dramatic monologue
Who the uncle represents
Who the uncle represents
Privileged upper class/established elite
What crystal vase & chandelier symbolise
What crystal vase & chandelier symbolise
Inherited wealth, refined living, fragile privilege
Why protestors never speak in poem
Why protestors never speak in poem
Shows power excludes marginalised voices from discourse
What phrase 'our kind' reveals
What phrase 'our kind' reveals
Class division based on wealth, breeding, inheritance
'Dead glass-blowers' symbolism
'Dead glass-blowers' symbolism
Past culture already gone; uncle defends dead world
Uncle's language style & effect
Uncle's language style & effect
Formal, elevated diction; shows disconnection from reality
Key effect of privilege in poem
Key effect of privilege in poem
Creates moral blindness to legitimate grievances
Uncle's true position (closing couplet)
Uncle's true position (closing couplet)
Trapped between dead past & future, not heroic
Loaded words uncle uses for protestors
Loaded words uncle uses for protestors
'Mob', 'sullen', 'bitter' - dehumanising language