HOTEL ROOM 12TH FLOOR - annotated Flashcards
This morning
suggests he is now reflecting on the day which has
passed - has witnessed something quite memorable.
watched
highlights his position as an observer. doesn’t take part in the chaos.
a helicopter skirting like a damaged insect
simile - something glamorous but has dark undertones. First sign of something going wrong in the poem. first image of the poem is one which involves the NY skyline - the famous aspect of the city which we expect when we think of NYC.
Empire State Building, that jumbo sized dentist’s drill,
metaphor - famous landmark associated with the spectacle of NY. “Jumbo sized” suggests something impressive. compared to something with negative connotations of pain and discomfort. Building serves as a sign of how far manning has come.
PanAm skyscraper.
now the Met Life building. largest commercial office space in the world when opened. one of the 100
tallest buildings in USA. another reminder of how far we’ve come.
But now
suggests a change coming in the tone of the poem. calm landscape about to be disrupted.
midnight
connotations - change of the day, darkness, evil
foreign places.
connotations - unknown, uncertain, alien - suggests we don’t understand where this darkness
comes from.
uncivilised darkness
personification - makes it a person, suggests an internal battle. connotations of chaos and savagery.
shot at
word choice - connotations of violence, battle -
we fight against the darkness in ourselves.
million lit windows,
suggests the scale of the city but also the power of the
darkness if a million lights can’t penetrate it
ups and acrosses.
reference to crosswords - combination of dark and
light - like humanity?
midnight is not so easily defeated.
short sentence - blunt reminder that we cannot escape this darker side to human nature.
I lie in bed,
macCaig is not out experiencing the city but safely
tucked away in his hotel. also shows that the city only
gets more chaotic as night descends - link to “city that
never sleeps”.
between a radio and a television set,
trapped between them - can’t escape the TV -
we are fed bad news from the media. We also try to distract ourselves from bad things happening.
wildest of warwhoops
alliteration - battle cry, out of control, cowboys and Indians - we haven’t moved on from past times.
continually ululating
connotations of echoing, never ending - suggests
that the violence and chaos will not end
glittering canyons and gulches
metaphor - comparing skyscrapers to the end.
Wild West. “glittering” has positive connotations of superficiality, glamour. but the other words suggest a more traditional landscape - we have tried to cover up what is really beneath.
police cars and ambulances racing
racing suggests panic, chaos. emergency services
add elements of danger.
broken bones,
alliteration - highlights savagery and violence we inflict on one another
harsh screaming
word choice - shrill sound which merge with sirens
to create chaotic atmosphere.
coldwater flats,
word choice - suggests poverty, suffering, contrast to the glamour expected of NYC.
blood glazed on sidewalks.
connotations suggest the blood is relatively new
but starting to dry on to street. also covering a
lot of space.
The frontier is never somewhere else.
short sentence - matter-of-fact statement shows that
we can never escape the dark side of humanity.
