Post by The Thought Police (admin) on Dec 3, 2014 6:34:02 GMT -5
Choose a poem in which the poet expresses a view that disturbs you.
Explore why it is disturbing, but yet that the writing of the poet makes you admire their skill.
The poem ‘Hotel Room 12th Floor’ by Norman MacCaig is a poem that is disturbing about what is happening in modern day America. However, the poet through his skillful use of imagery allows his reader to admire the poem. The poetic persona of
the poem is looking out of the window of a hotel room in New York considering the skyline and city streets of America and making judgements about what they reveal about the ‘American Way of Life’. MacCaig conveys his disturbing views on the greed and obsession with status that America seems to have through a variety of poetic techniques such as: conceits, personification, synecdoche and imagery.
MacCaig puts across a disturbing image that America is greedy and self-obsessed. The poet makes this clear by using imagery to confront America with their own greedy and power hungry nature. He uses similes to look deeper into America’s monuments. He uses a metaphor to describe the world famous Empire State Building as
“that jumbo sized dentist drill.”
This metaphor gives the literal meaning that the building comes to a point at the top and is utterly huge. It has the figurative idea of something unpleasant that inflicts pain on others. This makes us think of America as wanting to have the biggest and the best. America as a whole tends to spend vast amounts of money on things to make them bigger and bigger. MacCaig also adds to this image by describing a helicopter flying around it as ‘skirting like a damaged insect’. This simile helps to exaggerate the size of the building as an ‘insect’ is something very small and shows how tiny the helicopter looks when compared to the size of the building. The idea of it being damaged also has connotations of pain. MacCaig seems to use these connotations to suggest that the greed and obsession with power is going to cause America pain and suffering in the long run.
MacCaig uses synecdoche to great effect in stanza two to highlight the disturbing violence in America. MacCaig is no longer looking at the skyline of New York, but the city streets and the violence that is taking place at night. As the poet listens to the city streets he describes:
“Police cars and ambulances racing to the broken bones, the harsh screaming from coldwater flats…”
Synecdoche is effectively used to depersonalise human suffering. MacCaig does not mention the individuals; he clusters the suffering together. This draws the attention to the pain but also to the violence and danger, making it seem as though everyone is suffering and in danger. The description of:
“The blood glazed on the sidewalks’
Is particularly gruesome. This shows us that the blood has been there forever. The ‘broken bones’ have been lying for so long that the blood has started to harden. People are then constantly reminded of the of suffering and violence. They see it every night. Yet, they are not helped and they don’t help others. MacCaig himself
“Lies in bed between the radio and the television set”
In order to drown out the noise of the screaming and ambulances. The T.V set is also perhaps a symbol of America’s commercialism and is a source itself that promotes violence. Yet the noise is so loud and threatening that the poet is unable to block it out. This technique of synecdoche is very evocative in highlighting the extremely bleak view that America is in constant brutal violence and is not doing a thing about it.
MacCaig further emphasises his disturbing view of America’s uncivilised nature by comparing it to America’s own stereotype of an uncivilised society. Wild West imagery is used to suggest the noises that can be heard from the streets below.
“Wildest of Warwhoops continually ululating.”
The alliteration of ‘w’ provides the threatening sound of the noises made by ‘Red Indians’ from America’s films of the ‘Wild West’. The noise suggests danger as it was the noise the Indians made whilst charging into battle. It relates to modern day New York as it reflects the sound of the streets outside and suggests they are equally as uncivilised. The onomatopoeia of ‘ululating’ reiterates the forceful and unpleasant sound of the police car and ambulance sirens as they rush to the many injured inhabitants of New York. The streets themselves are compare to ‘canyons and gluches’. Physically the high skyscrapers resemble the high walls of the canyons of the Wild West. But this was also where the Red Indians would ambush and attack. The poet is proving that even today, civilians are being ambushed and attacked. He is confronting America with its own mythology to show them that they fit their own stereotype of an uncivilised society.
MacCaig uses the idea of light and darkness to represent the battle between good and evil forces that is being waged in the city. In the first stanza MacCaig describes midnight. He uses personification to suggest that it has ‘come into’ the city. This personification suggests it is evil and a threat. The reason that evil has entered is related to the idea of America’s greed and self-image. MacCaig is suggesting that this will bring problems that have to be dealt with. He describes:
“the uncivilised darkness is shot at by a million lit windows all ups and acrosses.”
This conveys the image of a crossword puzzle. Some of the lights are off and some on, similar to the white and black squares on the crossword. People who have their lights on are those trying to defeat evil – their lights are keeping the sinister midnight out. Others have simply given up and their lights are out. The image also gives the picture of a crucifix. The question posed is that Jesus died to save our sins, but who will die to save the city of New York?
The last stanza of the poem forces the reader to examine the extent MacCaig believes our society is and brings the poem to a disturbing climax. The writer again uses Wild West imagery to portray the evil in America’s society.
“The frontier is never somewhere else.”
The frontier is the edge of a country where the defences are and are constantly attacked. These defences were used to keep danger at bay. Yet, the writer is expressing that there is no protection against the dangers in society anymore and the problems are always going to be there. The ‘frontier’ creates the impression of a Wild West uncivilised society and mirror’s America’s society today. This is continued in the last line of the poem:
“No stockades can keep the midnight out.”
Sotckades were used as a barrier against the Red Indians and were where people went to be safe. It was a fortress and people believed that if they went inside then they were protected from all of the danger. This relates to how evil is already inside society and America can no longer distance themselves from reality. The last sentence is a very bleak and pessimistic view and makes people wake up to the fact that they have to solve their own problems rather than pretend they don’t exist. MacCaig is confronting Americans with their own mythology by using Wild West imagery to show them how uncivilised they really are.
In conclusion, there can be no doubt that Norman MacCaig successfully communicates a very disturbing view to the reader. He has achieved this through a number of highly skilful techniques. He uses the conceits to disparage the American way of life, the synecdoche to highlight the suffering and the violence of the people and the Wild West imagery to underline the uncivilised nature of American society. While this view is disturbing as it is so extreme, MacCaig’s use of these techniques makes his writing admirable and forces the reader to think carefully about his ideas.
Explore why it is disturbing, but yet that the writing of the poet makes you admire their skill.
The poem ‘Hotel Room 12th Floor’ by Norman MacCaig is a poem that is disturbing about what is happening in modern day America. However, the poet through his skillful use of imagery allows his reader to admire the poem. The poetic persona of
the poem is looking out of the window of a hotel room in New York considering the skyline and city streets of America and making judgements about what they reveal about the ‘American Way of Life’. MacCaig conveys his disturbing views on the greed and obsession with status that America seems to have through a variety of poetic techniques such as: conceits, personification, synecdoche and imagery.
MacCaig puts across a disturbing image that America is greedy and self-obsessed. The poet makes this clear by using imagery to confront America with their own greedy and power hungry nature. He uses similes to look deeper into America’s monuments. He uses a metaphor to describe the world famous Empire State Building as
“that jumbo sized dentist drill.”
This metaphor gives the literal meaning that the building comes to a point at the top and is utterly huge. It has the figurative idea of something unpleasant that inflicts pain on others. This makes us think of America as wanting to have the biggest and the best. America as a whole tends to spend vast amounts of money on things to make them bigger and bigger. MacCaig also adds to this image by describing a helicopter flying around it as ‘skirting like a damaged insect’. This simile helps to exaggerate the size of the building as an ‘insect’ is something very small and shows how tiny the helicopter looks when compared to the size of the building. The idea of it being damaged also has connotations of pain. MacCaig seems to use these connotations to suggest that the greed and obsession with power is going to cause America pain and suffering in the long run.
MacCaig uses synecdoche to great effect in stanza two to highlight the disturbing violence in America. MacCaig is no longer looking at the skyline of New York, but the city streets and the violence that is taking place at night. As the poet listens to the city streets he describes:
“Police cars and ambulances racing to the broken bones, the harsh screaming from coldwater flats…”
Synecdoche is effectively used to depersonalise human suffering. MacCaig does not mention the individuals; he clusters the suffering together. This draws the attention to the pain but also to the violence and danger, making it seem as though everyone is suffering and in danger. The description of:
“The blood glazed on the sidewalks’
Is particularly gruesome. This shows us that the blood has been there forever. The ‘broken bones’ have been lying for so long that the blood has started to harden. People are then constantly reminded of the of suffering and violence. They see it every night. Yet, they are not helped and they don’t help others. MacCaig himself
“Lies in bed between the radio and the television set”
In order to drown out the noise of the screaming and ambulances. The T.V set is also perhaps a symbol of America’s commercialism and is a source itself that promotes violence. Yet the noise is so loud and threatening that the poet is unable to block it out. This technique of synecdoche is very evocative in highlighting the extremely bleak view that America is in constant brutal violence and is not doing a thing about it.
MacCaig further emphasises his disturbing view of America’s uncivilised nature by comparing it to America’s own stereotype of an uncivilised society. Wild West imagery is used to suggest the noises that can be heard from the streets below.
“Wildest of Warwhoops continually ululating.”
The alliteration of ‘w’ provides the threatening sound of the noises made by ‘Red Indians’ from America’s films of the ‘Wild West’. The noise suggests danger as it was the noise the Indians made whilst charging into battle. It relates to modern day New York as it reflects the sound of the streets outside and suggests they are equally as uncivilised. The onomatopoeia of ‘ululating’ reiterates the forceful and unpleasant sound of the police car and ambulance sirens as they rush to the many injured inhabitants of New York. The streets themselves are compare to ‘canyons and gluches’. Physically the high skyscrapers resemble the high walls of the canyons of the Wild West. But this was also where the Red Indians would ambush and attack. The poet is proving that even today, civilians are being ambushed and attacked. He is confronting America with its own mythology to show them that they fit their own stereotype of an uncivilised society.
MacCaig uses the idea of light and darkness to represent the battle between good and evil forces that is being waged in the city. In the first stanza MacCaig describes midnight. He uses personification to suggest that it has ‘come into’ the city. This personification suggests it is evil and a threat. The reason that evil has entered is related to the idea of America’s greed and self-image. MacCaig is suggesting that this will bring problems that have to be dealt with. He describes:
“the uncivilised darkness is shot at by a million lit windows all ups and acrosses.”
This conveys the image of a crossword puzzle. Some of the lights are off and some on, similar to the white and black squares on the crossword. People who have their lights on are those trying to defeat evil – their lights are keeping the sinister midnight out. Others have simply given up and their lights are out. The image also gives the picture of a crucifix. The question posed is that Jesus died to save our sins, but who will die to save the city of New York?
The last stanza of the poem forces the reader to examine the extent MacCaig believes our society is and brings the poem to a disturbing climax. The writer again uses Wild West imagery to portray the evil in America’s society.
“The frontier is never somewhere else.”
The frontier is the edge of a country where the defences are and are constantly attacked. These defences were used to keep danger at bay. Yet, the writer is expressing that there is no protection against the dangers in society anymore and the problems are always going to be there. The ‘frontier’ creates the impression of a Wild West uncivilised society and mirror’s America’s society today. This is continued in the last line of the poem:
“No stockades can keep the midnight out.”
Sotckades were used as a barrier against the Red Indians and were where people went to be safe. It was a fortress and people believed that if they went inside then they were protected from all of the danger. This relates to how evil is already inside society and America can no longer distance themselves from reality. The last sentence is a very bleak and pessimistic view and makes people wake up to the fact that they have to solve their own problems rather than pretend they don’t exist. MacCaig is confronting Americans with their own mythology by using Wild West imagery to show them how uncivilised they really are.
In conclusion, there can be no doubt that Norman MacCaig successfully communicates a very disturbing view to the reader. He has achieved this through a number of highly skilful techniques. He uses the conceits to disparage the American way of life, the synecdoche to highlight the suffering and the violence of the people and the Wild West imagery to underline the uncivilised nature of American society. While this view is disturbing as it is so extreme, MacCaig’s use of these techniques makes his writing admirable and forces the reader to think carefully about his ideas.