Imagery - Hotel Room 12th Floor

Question 1

“A helicopter skirting like a damaged insect”

Answer 1

• simile
• a helicopter is being compared to a damaged insect.
• Just as a damaged insect would fly in circles if it had an injured wing, so the helicopter is circling as it comes in to land.
• This negative imagery may suggest that MacCaig is critical of the helicopter and perhaps disapproves of this technology as another example of America’s capitalism and wealth.

Question 2

“That jumbo-size dentist drill”

Answer 2

• metaphor
• Empire State Building is being compared to a dentist’s drill
• Just as a dentist’s drill is used to remove rot from a person’s tooth and can be painful, so the building is presented as intimidating and an unpleasant part of the cityscape
• This suggests that MacCaig is mocking this impressive building because of its shape, being critical of America’s outward show of ostentation.

Question 3

But now midnight has come in from foreign places

Answer 3

• personification compares midnight to an unwelcome visitor
• Just as an unwelcome visitor is uninvited, intruding and unwanted so midnight is a part of the day we do not embrace because it scares us.
• The word choice of “foreign” has connotations of different which suggests that midnight is difficult to understand which makes us afraid.