Memo from the Benefits Department (Leaving Cert English): Quizzes
📚Quizzes
Practise the questions
12 questions from this quiz
ShowHide
Practise the questions
12 questions from this quiz
In what year was Rachel Loden born?
In what year was Rachel Loden born?
1948
What childhood experience gave Loden firsthand knowledge of social welfare systems?
What childhood experience gave Loden firsthand knowledge of social welfare systems?
Time spent in foster homes
Which US president's era (1969-74) deeply influenced Loden's critique of institutions?
Which US president's era (1969-74) deeply influenced Loden's critique of institutions?
Richard Nixon
What does the Latin word 'memorandum' mean?
What does the Latin word 'memorandum' mean?
It must be remembered
What is the poem's central purpose?
What is the poem's central purpose?
Satirical criticism of bureaucracy
How does the poem use 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth'?
How does the poem use 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth'?
Shows those who lost them get no help
Why does the poem use the term 'extremities' for hands and feet?
Why does the poem use the term 'extremities' for hands and feet?
Creates emotional distance
The word 'severance' works as a double pun meaning what two things?
The word 'severance' works as a double pun meaning what two things?
Cutting off & redundancy pay
How does the poem reduce death to bureaucratic language?
How does the poem reduce death to bureaucratic language?
Black limousines & brief obit
What worthless 'lumps' replace meaningful lump sum payments in the poem?
What worthless 'lumps' replace meaningful lump sum payments in the poem?
Coal, gruel, soot/char
What tone does the poem maintain throughout?
What tone does the poem maintain throughout?
Cold, official, cynical
What major theme involves people becoming definitions and forms?
What major theme involves people becoming definitions and forms?
Dehumanisation by bureaucracy