Structure Flashcards
- “That mean/Trouble”
Enjambment used here to emphasise the words ‘mean’ and ‘trouble’
“means” is in this context, but subtle reminder of the violence inherent with this character.
If the hieroglyphs are scars, “Trouble” could represent the violence that led the cop to be disfigured. However if it’s his eyes this could represent how harsh he is.
- “he walks the sidewalk and the thin/tissue over violence”
Enjambment emphasises the moral/social issue of brutality which works together with MacCaig’s shocking description of a character who appears capable of considerable savagery.
- “he hoped it, he truly hoped it”
Repetition of the word “hope” suggests sincerity and genuine emotion behind his tough outward appearance (suggesting he feels he has to conceal his humanity to do his job effectively)
- “what clubbings, what/gunshots”
Repetition of “what” stresses the intensity of the violence
- “who would be him, gorilla with a nightstick/whose home is a place/he might, this time, never get back to?”
First of 2 Rhetorical Questions.
TONE changes from descriptive commentary to reflective. Suggests MacCaig almost feels sympathy for the cop and the job he has to do.
Reflective TONE creates impact after violence and dramatic tone of the previous stanza.
Sympathetic TONE appears genuine. He might not return if he takes one step too many through the “tissue of violence”
- ”, this time,”
PARENTHESIS slows final line of stanza down and increases sympathy the reader feels when considering who would want his job and what his job does to him.
- “And who would have to be his victims”
UNUSUAL SYNTAX makes the reader pause and reflect on his meaning
RHETORICAL QUESTION used to reveal theme. Cop’s violence is inevitable and someone will suffer as a result of his position in society.
