'Hotel Room, 12th Floor' by Norman MacCaig

Quotes

'this morning'

word choice. tells us its daytime.

'a helicopter skirting like a damaged insect'

simile. compares helicopter to insect.

'Empire State Building''PanAm skyscraper'

symbolism. Symbols of wealth and power.

'jumbo size dentist's drill'

metaphor. Mast of a building compared to a dentistry tool.

'but now'

word choice. shows a jump in time.

'midnight'

word choice. Personification of evil.

'foreign'

word choice. Darkness is strange and alien.

'uncivilised darkness'

word choice. corruption and violence run rife.

'shot at by a million lit windows'

metaphor. darkness has been attacked by light, suggestion of a battle occuring.

'but midnight is not so easily defeated'

word choice. an anti-climax, we're reminded it's a tough battle.

'a radio and television set'

word choice. what MacCaig is using to stop the voilent noises getting through.

'wildest of warwhoops'

allusion. reference to the war cry of the native americans.

'glittering canyons and gulches'

metaphor. high rises being compared to canyons.

'broken bones...harsh screaming...blood glazed'

synecdoche. physical attacks hurt the body both physically and mentally.

'cold water flats'

word choice. poverty and crime are related.

'frontier'

metaphor. continued metaphor of uncivilised violence and crime in the wild west.

'never somewhere else'

word choice. evil is with in us, we are no more civil now than we were before.

'stockades'

word choice. represents the uncivilised nature of violence on the streets.