St Patricks College Techniques

Quote Technique Explanation

Structure: Free verse
Rhythm: slow, conversational
tone and use of long vowels
First person, past tense
Reflection as adult on school life
1 Impressed by the uniforms of
her employers sons
Pun impressed

Symbol
pressed incites ironing suggests mother works
as a maid (migrant minimum wage)
Uniforms of the rich/educated/successful which
mother wants Peter to be a part of
St Pats Colloquial Familiar
What was best Clich modified Describes mothers motives -
2 Our lady watched with
outstretched arms, her face
overshadowed by clouds.
Symbol
Personification of sustained
religious iconography (Polish
tradition as Roman Catholic)
Ironic imagery/paradox
Mood: ominous timbre
NB statues cannot provide warmth/comfort
Gesture of support, inclusivity, protection
ironically not the feeling Peter gets

Welcoming yet a lack of humanity/belonging
Foreshadows NB/lack of understanding of school
I stuck pine needles into the
motto
Imagery Defacing the motto of his school undercuts
school/mothers motive
Evergreen pine not native
Luceat Lux Vestra Latin let your light shine
I thought it was a brand of
soap
Humour
Pun lux
Dark
Highlights dislocation
3 For eight years Repetition x3 Time has no effect on belonging; endurance
Like a foreign tourist,
uncertain of my destination
every time I got off.
Simile

Metaphor
First person singular
Detachment/lack of
connection/alienation/displacement
For lack of direction/identity
Isolation, just routines of comings and goings
4 For eight years I carried the
blue, black and gold
Repetition
Imagery
Word choice
Suggests burden
Identified with school
Id been privileged to wear Possibly sarcastic
Passive tone
Either doesnt appreciate the school, or understands
the money gone into it for him (an outsider poor)
Could say The Lords Prayer in
Latin, all in one breath.
Humour
Allusion religious
No religious thought
Merely a silly accomplishment, trivialised
5 Our lady, still watching above,
unchanged by eight years
weather
Ironic imagery
Repetition
Time no effect on belonging/identity/connection
to place
With closed eyes I fervently
counted
Religious language used for
ironic purpose
No religious meaning to Peter rituals lack meaning
Venite Adoremus Latin oh come let us adore him
Saw equations I never
understood
Metaphor No understanding of self/school
Taking the right-hand turn out
of Edgar Street for good
Subtle tone Relief to escape, sense of satisfaction
Negative associations with school no feeling of loss
Prayed that mother would
someday be pleased with what
shed got for her money
Religious reference Belonging to parents more important than school

Suggests education became a commodity
That the darkness around me
wasnt for the best before I
let my light shine.
Juxtaposition dark/light
Repetition for the best
Irony
Ambiguity
Faster rhythm short/sharp
vowels
Questions whether it was for the best
Schools motto ironically has no intrinsic value, yet P
hopes for its future worth e.g. opportunities he
couldnt find at school/B to a wider environment
Making sense of the past