Brooklyn Cop Flashcards
“Built like a gorilla…”
Technique: Simile/Contrast
Physical stature is compared to that of a gorilla.
“gorilla”
Connotations: unflattering, brutish, big, strong, insensitive, imposing, powerful, threatening, animistic.
This highlights the physical potential of the cop which is a contrast to his domestic life.
This distances the cop from humanity.
“Built like a gorilla but less timid”
Technique: Irony
“but less timid”
‘timid’
Connotations: lacking in courage, fearful.
Since gorillas are seen as potentially violent - MacCaig implies that the cop is even more threatening than as the not very timid gorilla. This reinforces his brutality.
“thick-fleshed, steak-coloured”
Technique: Word Choice/Pun
“thick-fleshed”
‘flesh’ and ‘steak’ compare the man to a piece of meat.
Connotations: raw, blood and violence.
Suggestive of the violence the cop has witnessed and survived.
‘thick-fleshed’ Is a pun, play on thick-skinned, he has to do his job creating a sense of menace, suggests his aggression and primitive tendencies.
Technique: Metaphor
“steak-coloured’
Suggests violence and blood. Sense of savagery, violence and blood.
“with two/hieroglyphs in his face that mean/trouble”
Technique: Metaphor/Enjambement
Cop’s eyes are being described as hoeroglyphs. This suggests that his impression is unscrutable, un-readable, impassive and, consequently, intimidating. Reinforces his brutality as it is impossible to tell what he thinks or sees, and there is nothing that gives away his emotions.
‘mean trouble’
Suggests he is signalling a warning to the citezens by means of his deadened eyes indicating he will act without mercy should the need arise.
The egyptian eye symbol means all-seeing, which also realates to the policeman’s role.
“he walks the sidewalk”
Technique: Adapted Idiom
To “walk the walk” is a North American idiom meaning that one will back up what one says with action. It is often used in conjunction “talk the talk”.
The policeman on his beat can aslo be seen as a man unafraid of action.
Using the American word for pavements also helps create an authentic description.
“he walks the sidewalk and the/
thin tissue over violence.”
Technique: Zeugma/Metaphor
MacCaig uses one verb- to walk- to refer both to the ‘sidewalk’ and to the ‘tissue’.
Compares tissue (which is fragile and delicate) to the dividing line between civilisation and savagery.
The harnessing together of literal and metaphorical meanings creates an impactful description, of the civilization facade below which brutish agendas simmer. At any point, this thin tissue may be torn and violence may erupt.
“he hoped it, he truly hoped it.”
Technique: Repetition
“hoped” is repeated to suggest the Cop’s sincerity.
This stresses the danger of his environment, hints at his own desperation. There is a constant risk that he may have had the last moment with his wife, he may die in his job.
Word choice emphasises his feelings for his wife, contrast between the violence of his everyday life and his domestic life
Outward appearance of brutality contrasted with his own vulnerability
He is grateful to make it home everyday.
Creates empathy for the cop.
“He is a gorilla”
Technique: Metaphor
Repeating this desccription adds prominence to hte portrait of this very intimidation, heavily built man. There is also, however, a slightly ironic tone because MacCaig qualifies this description by adding on a further comment expanding on the dangerous nature of his job.
“to whom ‘Hiya, honey’ is no cliche.”
Technique: Enjambement
By holding back this statement, the enjambment has allowed MacCaig to place emphaisis on the concluding comment to stanza one. There is a tone of seriousness as MacCaig recongnises the extreme nature of the man’s job: everyday could see his life ended and therefore his greeting to his wife each night has more resonance because he has survived another day: thus, the words are not tritely said.
“Should the tissue tear”
Technique: Metaphor
The abstract dividing line between law and lawlessness is metaphorically portrayed as being formed from tissue. This references line 5 where the metaphor originates. By repeating it, this metaphor emphaisises in what a dangerous zone the man operates.
“Should the tissue tear, should he plunge through/into violence, …”
Technique: Extended Metaphor/ Word Choice
By extending the metaphor, MacCaig imagines the policeman losing control. Word Choice is effective in suggesting violence through the use of the verbs “tear” and “plunge”.
“plunge” is ambiguous, suggesting both a deliberate and non-deliberate act. He may choose to plunge or he may be under attack.
By using 2 lines, MacCaig separates the violence, giving it greater impact and suggesting that it is something distinct from the policeman’s normal duties.
“…what clubbings, what/gunshots between Phoebe’s Whamburger/and Louie’s Place.”
Technique: Repetition/ Word Choice/ Enjambement
By repeating the exclamatory determiner “what”, MacCaig portrays the extreme and shocking nature of what will unfold.
The words selected intesify this sense of menace as they have brutal connotations: “clubbings” “gunshots” “Wham (burger)”.
Using enjambement enables MacCaig to create a whole scene where the mayhem imagined is graphic and to an extent, cruelly, almost comic: this is produced by the clumsy word “clubbing” and by the cartoon like, onomatopoeic word “wham”. The locations also imply a level of poverty due to the concept of cheap food and informal signage.
“Who would be him, gorilla with a nightstick,”
Technique: Question/ Metaphor/ American dialect
MacCaig poses 2 questions of which this is the first. MacCaig directs the reader to the stressful nature of his job.
By metaphorically describing him as a gorilla, MacCaig makes a structurally effective return to the opening line of the poem, repepeating the concept for greater emphasis.
By adding the North American noun ‘nightstick’, MacCaig again creates a stronge sense of place whilst also reiterating the theme of the man’s brute strength and the rapacious behaviour involved. This is increased by knowledge that nighstick is longer and heavier than the British truncheon.
“whose home is a place/he might, this time, never get back to?”
Technique: Enjambement/ Question
These lines complete the question: if each day of duty could be his last, is the job desirable? Using a question involves the reader, a typically MacCaig technique, whilst use if enjambement allows the question to be built up to the climax of deliberately shocking content. The syntax is laid out in a structurally complex, which mimics the difficulty of the conundrum.
“And who would be who have to be/his victims?”
Technique: Question/ Word Choice/ Climax
Isolating the final lines gives them greater potency and memorability. MacCaig has chosen to conclude his poem with this question, a contrast with the previous question, it is evident that he has more sympathy with those under attack than he has with the cop.
Line 20 is desinged to confuse, with its repetition of “would be”, altered by inserting “have to”: this introduces the notion of compulsion , suggesting that his victims are almost forced into this role.
The choice of noun is also noteworthy: rather than felons or criminals, MacCaig selects ‘victim’, a word with well-established negative connotations; its use suggests that the policeman may have selected his prey deliberatly and that they are underdogs who will be subjected to extreme aggression, rather than trouble makers.
