Hotel Room Sound Techniques Flashcards
“wildest of warhoops”
The poet uses alliteration and onomatopoeia to emphasise the noise that he is hearing from outside his hotel room. The word choice of “warhoops” refers to the sound Native Americans would make when going to war.
“glittering canyons and gulches”
The poet uses alliteration to emphasise that the skyscrapers we have built to hid behind are similar to the natural structures/landscape that can be found in the wild west. The word choice of ‘glittering’ refers to the windows on these buildings.
“uluating”
The poet uses onomatopoeia to emphasise the wild, uncivilised noises he can hear. ‘uluating’ describes a sound that goes loud and quiet in a wave-like motion. In the poem this refers to the battle cries of the Native people that are similar to the sounds of the people of NYC. It also refers to the sound of the sirens from the emergency services.
“broken bones”
The poet uses alliteration to emphasise how detached emergency service workers are to injuries obtained through violence because they see it so often. MacCaig also uses syndecoche - the bones describe the whole person.
“harsh screaming”
MacCaig uses an onomatopoeia to emphasise the sound of pain he can hear outside his hotel room. The word choice of ‘harsh’ shows that the screams he can hear are unpleasant/negative - the people doing it are not happy.
“And no stockades/can keep the midnight out.”
The poet uses enjambment to emphasise that the barriers we build are ineffective because we as humans are the source of the problem - the evil within us. The rules and laws and social norms don’t keep out the evil and criminal behaviour because it’s human nature. The word choice of ‘stockades’ also connects to the wildness within us/the wild west.
