Hotel Room, 12th Floor, by Norman MacCaig, is a poem which seems at first to be about the ordinary,

everyday experience of the speaker looking out of his hotel window. However, later it becomes clear
that this is not the case as the poet goes on to make a deeper comment about life: that mankind, no
matter how hard we try, can never escape violence as it lies within all of us. The techniques which
MacCaig uses, such as imagery, alliteration and tone, help to make the ideas of the poem memorable for
the reader.

At first the poet seems to describe a normal view of New York from his hotel window, however the
strange images that he uses helps us to understand that he actually has a very cynical and negative view
of mankind’s ‘achievements’. The simile: “a helicopter skirting like a damaged insect”, compares a
helicopter – something which represents man’s technological triumphs – to a damaged insect.
However, MacCaig is obviously not impressed by this triumph; whereas most people would see a
helicopter as representing the enormous achievement of man in learning how to fly, to conquer the sky,
MacCaig compares it to a ‘damaged insect.’ At first the comparison to an insect seems obvious: the
movement and noise of the helicopter is much like that of an insect, however insects have negative
connotations, as people are frightened of them and flies are also found around dead, decaying material.
Furthermore, the insect – or helicopter – is ‘damaged’, suggesting that there is something seriously
wrong with is. This is something which MacCaig also explores in the metaphor, “the Empire State
building / that jumbo sized dentist’s drill.” Here, the iconic Empire State building which represents
America’s economic achievements and power, is not compared to something grand or impressive, but
instead to a dentist’s drill, another negative image. Nobody likes the dentist and a “jumbo sized”
dentist’s drill is a particularly memorable image because it is so unpleasant, bringing images of pain and
suffering. So, while at first glance this poem seems to be about an ordinary, everyday view, it soon
becomes clear that the poet is suggesting something else.

MacCaig goes on to explore exactly what this is, as he describes the violence that occurs under the cover
of darkness in New York, and suggests that civilising influences, such as grand buildings and technology,
cannot stop the uncivilised violence that happens. He uses a metaphor to compare this uncivilised
violence to ‘Midnight’, which is particularly effective as midnight has negative connotations and is the
‘witching hour’, when traditionally bad spirits would break loose. We are told that midnight is “shot at
by a million lit windows”, which tells us that we – mankind – are constantly battling against this
savagery, but that nothing – not even a million of us – can win because “midnight is not / so easily
defeated.” Midnight, in the literal sense, is not something that humans can control – night time will
always come and so will the violence because it is part of ourselves and we cannot change that.
MacCaig also compares New York to America’s wild west, where the police sirens and cries are
compared to the “wildest of warwhoops” and the tall buildings with twinkling lights are compared to the
“glittering canyons and gulches.” The reason that this is effective is because the wild west was not a
civilised place and MacCaig is suggesting that mankind has not come any further in terms of civilisation,
is not any more civilised, than the wild west, even though we have had two hundred years to become
so. He then goes on to explain the effects of such uncivilised violence: the alliteration in “the broken
bones” makes the poet’s ideas memorable because it helps to emphasise the violence the fact that he
uses a list to tell us of the effects emphasises just how many people are injured and how much savagery
is going on. This makes it absolutely clear to the reader that this poem is not about something ordinary,
but is actually commenting on the savagery that is apparent in mankind.

The poet then goes on to make his final comment, which is that we cannot escape from this uncivilised
violence, because it is a part of mankind. This final message is made memorable by the continuation of
the extended metaphor of the wild west in the last stanza: “The frontier is never / somewhere else.”
This tells us that the boundary between being civilised and uncivilised is right here with us, wherever we
go, because mankind always has the potential to be both civilised and uncivilised. The poet then goes
on to explain that “no stockades / can keep the midnight out.” This is a particularly memorable line
because the poet uses such a cynical tone. It ends on a very negative note: that nothing we do will
protect ourselves against violence, because mankind will always be uncivilised. We will always be at the
frontier between being civilised and uncivilised.

So, at first the poem seems to be about an ordinary view of New York from a window, however as it
progresses it becomes clear that the speaker of the poem remains unimpressed by the civilisation that
man has created. He then goes on to explain that we can never escape from violence, no matter how
hard we try, because it is part of mankind. This idea is made memorable by the poet’s use of
alliteration, tone and imagery.