Romantic Era
The phrase 'romantic era' is metaphorically used by the author to refer to the political turbulence and struggle for self-rule for the Polish people from the Russian rule. The author writes, "The January Insurrection was, therefore, an authentic historic watershed, the culminating point of the turbulent of the romantic era of Polish history and the point of departure for the new period, the contours of which would not be visible until some forty years later."
The simile of state-run girls
The author compares the native language used in private secondary school girls to the state-run girls. The author writes, “A similar curriculum was therefore adopted in the private schools, with Russian as the primary language of instruction. Private secondary schools for girls possessed more latitude to use the native language, but only because their graduates-like their counterparts in the state-run girls’ gymnasia – were denied access to higher education.”
Economic deprivation (Metaphor)
Economic deprivation is a metaphor, which links Russian's economic downfall to political revenge. Similarly, political revenge gave way to corruption because the Russian rulers were keen on eradicating the Polish gentry. The author writes, “Economic deprivation went hand in hand with political revenge. The government confiscated 1,660 estates in the Kingdom and 1,794 estates in Lithuania from the Polish gentry.”
Russian Instructional language (Metaphor)
The Russian instructional language allegorically reflects the Russian authority's intentions to brainwash the people to make them loyal and sycophants. Apukhtin instructs all learning institutions to teach all subjects using the Russian instructional language as the head of elementary schools. The author says, “Under Apukhtin, however, Russian became the instructional language for all subjects except Polish grammar and religious studies.”
Terrorization of religious groupings (metaphor)
The author references the Roman Catholic Church, which sided with the Polish gentry to push for reforms and other mechanisms that would lead to self-rule. However, the Russian rule was not happy with the move taken by religious institutions because they became a threat to the Kingdom. The Russian authority terrorized the Catholic Church leaders to silence them. The author writes, “The Roman Catholic Church was simply terrorized into submission.”
