Hotel Room, 12th floor quotes

• "I watched"


  'I watched', makes clear the speaker's observer status; he is a spectator.
• "like a damaged insect"


  Simile - 'like a damaged insect' suggests the sheer size and scale of the Empire State Building - helicopters are not tiny, but beside the (then) tallest building in the world they look insect-like. That the insect is 'damaged' suggests nature's difficulties in surviving in unnatural cities.
• "jumbo size dentist's drill"


  Metaphor - 'jumbo size dentist's drill'

  
  

  Alliteration - highlighted by alliterative 'd' sound, compares the Empire State Building, one of the most famous buildings and tourist attractions in the world, to a large 'dentist's drill', suggesting it looks huge, ugly, and unpleasant. The image connotes pain - it is painful to be in New York, even by day
• "But now Midnight has come in / from foreign places."


  'But' signals a change in time, especially by the use of the present tense.

  
  

  Personification - it is now 'Midnight', the upper-case 'M' suggesting personification - it has a mind of its own. That it 'has come in' suggests that midnight is invasive, uninvited, unwelcome, while 'from foreign places' suggests it is from somewhere unknown and dangerous, clearly linked to 'uncivilised darkness'.

  
  

  Enjambment - isolates 'from foreign places', emphasising its unfamiliarity by isolating it
• "uncivilised darkness"


  'uncivilised' connotes unacceptable, primitive, brutal behaviour and 'darkness' connotes something threatening, to be feared, where evil lurks.
• "a million lit windows"

  
  

  Contrast - the contrast of light and dark is reinforced by the personification and the alliteration of the 'I' sound ('million lit') as well as the assonance of the short 'I' sound in all three words. The theme of light (good) versus darkness (evil) is firmly established
• "But midnight is not so easily defeated"


  The 'But' at the beginning of the second verse signals the speaker's developing idea that midnight isn't easily conquered.
• "I lie in bed, between / a radio and a television set"


  Caesura - full stop and comma create two caesuras which force the sentence to 'spill over' into the following line, emphasising that he is lying in bed between 'a radio and a television set' to drown out the noises from the city below.
• "wildest of warwhoops"


  the 'wildest of warwhoops' is a reference to the fearful war cries of the Native Americans during the battles with soldiers centuries before, as settlers moved the frontier west.
• "ululating"


  Onomatopoeia - in the words 'warwhoops' and 'ululating', capturing the noises made by the Native Americans as well as the fearsome noises of New York.
• "glittering canyons and gulches"


  Alliteration - of the guttural hard 'g' and 'c' sounds, along with assonance of the short 'u' sounds, combine to establish a comparison of the violence of the Wild West and the alleyways of modern New York. These are both metaphorical images comparing frontier battles to the noises of the city below.
• "racing / to broken bones, the harsh screaming / from coldwater flats, the blood / glazed on the sidewalks"


  The sounds of the modern city - the police cars and ambulances 'racing' - are much more urgent and distressing. In 'racing / to broken bones, the harsh screaming / from coldwater flats, the blood / glazed on the sidewalks', the list structure highlights the amount and range of cruelty and violence that is part of city life. The caesura after 'flats' creates a break in the line structure, creating the enjambment that dramatically separates 'blood' from 'glazed on the sidewalks', forcing it onto a line by itself. This highlights and reinforces the climax to the verse. The use of historical and contemporary references in this verse develops not only the theme of evil and the lack of civilised behaviour in this modern, affluent city but also suggests that it has always been there - violence and evil are part of human nature.
• "The frontier is never / somewhere else. And no stockades / can keep the midnight out."


  The last verse concludes the theme of violence developed throughout the poem. The idea that 'The frontier is never / somewhere else' (an extension of the Wild West metaphor) not only sums up the battle between the city of New York and the night, but also shows that within all humans there is the capacity for evil and violence - it's part of human nature. The use of 'And' at the beginning of the final sentence effectively isolates, highlights and concludes the poem, making clear that no defence ('stockades') can prevent the advance of darkness, the symbol of unrelenting evil in human nature.
• Themes

  There are several themes: isolation, helplessness, the lack of civilisation, urban violence and degradation, brutality, poverty, and lack of progress from more primitive eras. It is also an attack on the nature of power and wealth.