Hotel Room 12th Floor Flashcards
“Uncivilised darkness”
Word choice of ‘uncivilised’ suggests that what isn’t understood is defined in terms of our own civilisation. Not understood and seen as strange and scary.
“Jumbo sized dentist’s drill”
Metaphor - ‘dentist’s drill’ has connotations of unpleasant. Seen by poet as a painful, frightening building (empire state building), not a symbol of mankind’s status
“A helicopter skirting like a damaged insect”
simile - helicopters movements (symbol of technological advancement) are compared to those of an injured insect. Strange and unpredictable
“Never”
Word choice - emphasises the negative. No solutions are found to the problem of street violence. Decisive.
“Not so easily defeated”
Word choice - suggests that fight against darkness is futile. This stanza continues idea of isolation snd suffering
“Wildest of warwhoops”
Alliteration/imagery - the noise of police and ambulance sirens which relates to older war cries of armies and tribes. Suggests the uncivilised nature of the street violence. City has become a wilderness
“Police cars and ambulances racing”
Constant violence requires emergency services to be active all the time
“frontier”
Suggests a barrier between civilisation and savagery. Writer sees no such barrier. Idea of Wild West
“midnight out”
Personification - no matter what we do we can’t keep the evil out of society. Shows midnight as an evil entity
