Brooklyn Cop

• How does this poem display contrast?

  Homelife vs violence if work
• How does this poem display loss?

  Fear of losing family and homelife
• How does this poem display suffering?

  Suffering of victims or emotional suffering of not knowing when violence will strike
• How does this poem display relationships?

  Between the cop and violent city
• How does this poem display character/surroundings?

  American city and gorilla description of cop
• How does this poem display symbolism?

  It doesn’t
• Contrast quotes

  • “he hoped it, he truly hoped it.”
  • “He is a gorilla”
  • “gorilla with a nightstick,/whose home is a place”
• “he hoped it, he truly hoped it.”

  Repetition emphasises sincerity in words. In contrast to the violent nature of his work he genuinely wishes to go home again and be with family.
• “He is a gorilla”

  Metaphor comparing cop to wild strong animal. Re-iterates previous comparison to make stronger. Contrast between the savage and strong role his plays for his work to the genuine hope of seeing family again.
• “gorilla with a nightstick,/whose home is a place”

  Metaphor comparing cop with his equipment to a savage brutal animal with a weapon. Juxtaposition it with image of home emphasises contrast between his violent work and his sensitive home life.
• Loss quotes

  • “he hoped it, he truly hoped it.”
  • “he plunge through/into violence“
  • “He might, this time, never get back to?”
• “He might, this time, never get back to?”

  Parenthesis slows down line to emphasise sympathy for the cop and emphasises the danger he faces, which he may not return from.
• Suffering quotes

  • “Should the tissue tear,”
  • “he plunge through/into violence“
  • “he walks the sidewalk and the thin tissue over violence.”
• “Should the tissue tear,“

  Metaphor comparing tissue to peace. Suggests fragility of civility in the cops surroundings and how he fears the sudden change into violence and savagery.Conditional tense suggests uncertainty
• “he plunge through/into violence“

  WC plunge connotes quick sudden drop. Emphasises the speed at which peace turns into violence that cannot be predicted. Highlights cops fear at the sudden change and the unpredictability of him going home.
• “he walks the sidewalk and the thin tissue over violence.“

  Metaphor comparing a sheet off fragile paper to the line between peace and violence in the city. Emphasises the delicate nature of the city and the fragile state of peace that could be broken at any minute.
• Relationships quotes

  • “he walks the sidewalk and the thin tissue over violence.“
  • “thick-fleshed, steak-coloured,“
  • “Phoebe’s WhamBurger”
• “thick-fleshed, steak-coloured,“

  Stark contrast to delicate tissue suggesting the cop helps keep to together the fragile peace in the city with his strength and authority.WC raw and uncompromising like cop.
• Character and surroundings quotes

  • “Phoebes WhamBurger”
  • “thick-fleshed, steak-coloured,“
  • “he walks the sidewalk and the thin tissue over violence.“
• “Phoebe’s WhamBurger”

  WC wham connotes violence in comic strips. In context emphasises the violence within the city that the cop deals with. Even ordinary parts of the city like diners have violence in that he must try to prevent.
• Themes of Brooklyn Cop

  • Thin line between civilisation and savagery in society
  • Fragility of peace