Transcript Writing about Poetry - Robbiedempsey's Blog

Hotel Room 12th Floor


Choose a poem which is strongly linked to a
specific location.
Show how the poet captures the essence of
the location and exploits this to explore an
important theme.



Specific location: New York
Essence of this location: barbarity, violence
and poverty, which the glitter and glamour of
famous landmarks cannot disguise.
Important theme: civilisation and savagery.
Modern capitalist societies may believe they
are completely civilised. However, beneath
their façade of wealth and technological
progress lies the continuation of man’s
inhumanity to man.



Clearly state the topic of that paragraph
Link to the previous paragraph
Link to your task



Previous paragraph- use of imagery at
poem’s outset to mock New York’s landmarks
while also hinting at the violence that lurks
beneath.
New paragraph- How the contrast between
day and night is used to darken the poem’s
mood.
Topic sentence: MacCaig’s initially lighthearted depiction of New York becomes
increasingly unsettling when the poem shifts
from day to night.




At least two per paragraph.
The majority of these should be shorter,
embedded quotations.
This is reinforced through the word choice of
‘damaged’, which suggests something
imperfect or broken- much like MacCaig’s
view of New York society.
In the first stanza, the speaker, who is
isolated in his hotel room, looks out at the
famous skyline and sees a ‘helicopter skirting
like a damaged insect’.



Identify techniques
Explain how they work-connotations of
certain words, break down parts of imagery
etc.
Explain how these help depict New York/
explore the relationship between civilisation
and savagery, or both.
“But now Midnight has come in
from foreign places.”
MacCaig’s use of personification here helps to create
an impression that the darkness that night time
brings is an unwelcome invader, almost like an
enemy army. The sense of unease that this brings is
compounded by the use of present tense, which
creates a sense of danger and immediacy. Midnight
is used throughout the poem by MacCaig to
symbolise the savagery and propensity to violence
that is part of the human condition.



Mention the poet’s name and the poem’s title
(correctly punctuated)
Respond to both parts of your task (but do
not simply repeat them).
Display your understanding of the poem’s
central concerns.

‘Hotel Room 12th Floor’, by Norman MacCaig,
depicts one of the world’s most famous locationsthe New York skyline. The speaker’s internal
monologue creates a picture of modern capitalist
society's most famous city, which becomes
infected with creeping dread and despair. As the
poem progresses, the violence which lies beneath
the glitter of the Big Apple becomes increasingly
apparent. This helps conveys MacCaig’s
fundamental theme: man’s savagery and
propensity to violence have never disappeared and
are never far away.







Simple PEAR
Point
Evidence
Analysis
Return to task
Positives- clear structure
Negatives- too simplistic; repetitive; can
reduce the use of quotations.






Point
Evidence
Analysis
Evidence
Analysis
Return to task

At the poem’s outset, MacCaig uses unusual
imagery to create a powerful impression of some
of New York’s most famous buildings. In the first
stanza, the speaker, who is isolated in his hotel
room, looks out at the famous skyline and sees a
‘helicopter skirting like a damaged insect’. This
original and striking simile is effective because it
captures the movement of the helicopter and its
size when viewed from a distance. It also makes
the helicopter seem insignificant, as this
astonishing feat of modern technology is reduced
to little more than a fly. This is reinforced through
the word choice of ‘damaged’, which suggests
something imperfect or broken- much like
MacCaig’s view of New York society.
At the start of the poem MacCaig adopts a light-hearted tone,
and his powerful use of imagery creates a striking picture of the
city during the day, in contrast to the terrors of the night.
‘..helicopter skirting like a damaged insect ..’. This simile creates
a light-hearted atmosphere and has a humorous effect on the
reader. This is because the helicopter is a huge piece of powerful
machinery but MacCaig makes it seem minute. This is in contrast
to the next image which is playful to an extent, but also has dark
connotations:
”Empire State building, that jumbo size dentist’s drill,”
This metaphor may be conceived as harmless, but to some a
dentist’s drill could be their worse fear. Also the fact that it is
“jumbo sized” makes it seem terrifying. This gargantuan image
overpowers everything it looms over, and would make passers by
seem tiny and powerless. This is an example of foreshadowing,
which prepares the reader for the steady progression, not just of
day to night, but also in the poem from light to a more dark tone.
These images bring the city to life, and are in stark contrast to the
later images of “blood glazed on the sidewalks.”, but prepare the
reader for the night. During the day MacCaig uses playful images
and creates on the whole a humorous atmosphere. This is a clear
contrast to when MacCaig is describing the events of the night,
which he brings to life using more disturbing imagery.
