Hotel room 12th floor (poetry)

Question 1

Stanza one

Answer 1

This morning I watched from here
a helicopter skirting like a damaged insect
the Empire State Building, that
jumbo size dentist’s drill, and landing
on the roof of the PanAm skyscraper.

Question 2

Stanza 2

Answer 2

But now midnight has come in
from foreign places. Its uncivilised darkness
is shot at by a million lit windows, all
ups and acrosses

Question 3

Stanza three

Answer 3

But midnight is not
so easily defeated. I lie in bed, between
a radio and a television set, and hear
the wildest of warwhoops continually ululating through
the glittering canyons and gulches—
police cars and ambulances racing
to the broken bones, the harsh screaming
from coldwater flats, the blood
glazed on sidewalks.

Question 4

Stanza four

Answer 4

The frontier is never
somewhere else. And no stockades
can keep the midnight out.

Question 5

Key themes of hotel room 12th floor

Answer 5

American culture of violence and destruction and its uncivilised nature.
Segregation and racism against black people and the mistreating of them in society.
The similarities of modern society and basic human instincts

Question 6

This morning I watched from here
a helicopter skirting like a damaged insect
the Empire State Building, that
jumbo size dentist’s drill, and landing
on the roof of the PanAm skyscraper.

Answer 6

“A helicopter skirting like a damaged insect,” is a simile which compares the helicopter to a damaged fly to make it seem flawed due to damaged, annoying due to skirting and small and irrelevant due being an insect.
“Jumbo sized dentist drill,” is a metaphor used to compare the Empire State Building to a dentist drill to give the connotations of how unnecessary it is to have a building that big (jumbo sized) and its lack of use as a jumbo sized dentist drill because dentist drills help the mouth and they are small.

Question 7

But now midnight has come in

from foreign places

Answer 7

“Midnight,” is an example of word choice to show how dark it is outside because it isn’t just night it is the middle of the night which is when it is darkest.
“But now midnight has come in from foreign places,” is a metaphor and midnight is used to show the American idea of fear and unknown, foreign places is referring to other places and foreigners which makes me believe this line is about how America treats people of colour.
Caesura is used to make the reader reflect on nether this is how we should be treating black people.

Question 8

Its uncivilised darkness
is shot at by a million lit windows, all
ups and acrosses

Answer 8

“It’s uncivilised darkness is shot at by a million lit windows,” is another metaphor which uses word choice to refer to tell the reader that white Americans believe they are better than black Americans and are less barbaric, it then goes on to tell us about how they “shoot at them which refers back to the violence of American gun culture in the past and present.
“All ups and crosses,” is used as word choice which uses crosses to represent the religious aspect of the issues. And white Christian’s who don’t believe in equality.

Question 9

But midnight is not so easily defeated.

Answer 9

“But midnight is not so easily defeated,” is an extended metaphor linking back to the stanza before and tells us that the barbaric wild ways of humanity are difficult to resist and how the black community is willing to stand up for themselves and not let themselves be segregated against.

Question 10

But midnight is not so easily defeated.

Answer 10

“But midnight is not so easily defeated,” is an extended metaphor linking back to the stanza before and tells us that the barbaric wild ways of humanity are difficult to resist and how the black community is willing to stand up for themselves and not let themselves be segregated against.
Caesura is used to make the reader question whether America has morally correct values and how willing the black community is to fight for their equality