The Poetry of Norman Maccaig Complete Notes

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Assisi Norman Maccaig

About the Poem

In Assisi, Norman Maccaig describes a scene in Assisi, Italy; home of the monk St Francis. St Francis was famous for his work with those less fortunate than himself. Maccaig reflects on the three beautiful churches built in his honour, and watches a gaggle of tourists following a priest who is acting like a tour guide – showing them Giotto’s beautiful frescoes on the walls. While this is happening, a disabled beggar sits on the steps, ignored.

Making Links

This poem is probably the least personal of the collection. It does not link very strongly with the others, except perhaps in its use of language and contrast. It could, however, be linked with Aunt Julia, as both poems have a very strong sense of anger and frustration.

The Poem

Assisi The dwarf with his hands on backwards sat, slumped like a half-filled sack on tiny twisted legs from which sawdust might run, outside the three tiers of churches built in honour of St Francis, brother of the poor, talker with birds, over whom he had the advantage of not being dead yet. A priest explained how clever it was of Giotto to make his frescoes tell stories that would reveal to the illiterate the goodness of God and the suffering of His Son. I understood the explanation and the cleverness. A rush of tourists, clucking contentedly, fluttered after him as he scattered the grain of the Word. It was they who had passed the ruined temple outside, whose eyes wept pus, whose back was higher than his head, whose lopsided mouth said Grazie in a voice as sweet as a child's when she speaks to her mother or a bird's when it spoke to St Francis.

Stanza by Stanza Notes

Stanza One

• Right at the start of the poem, Maccaig refers to the disabled man as a “dwarf”. This is a derogatory term which makes the man sound stunted and deformed. His troubles are emphasized further when he tells us his hands are on “backwards”. It is unclear in this first line whether the author is more disgusted or sympathetic for the man.

• Maccaig continues with this imagery when he uses the simile “slumped, like a half-filled sack”. This obviously gives us a vivid visual description of how the man is sitting, but also suggests that he is somehow lacking or incomplete. This simile becomes a more extended metaphor when he talks of the “tiny twisted legs from which/sawdust might run”.

• Maccaig contrasts the small, twisted dwarf with the “three tiers of churches built/in honour of St Francis”. The churches sound big and impressive, which further belittles the disabled beggar. Already, Maccaig introduces us to the irony of the poem – St Francis was a “brother of the poor”, but his message has been lost in the luxury and excess (represented by the three tiers of churches) of modern Christianity.

• To finish the stanza, Maccaig returns to the idea of the man being a rather pathetic, and therefore sympathetic character. He tells us that his only advantage over St Francis is “not being dead yet. This obviously suggests that the dwarf has very little (if anything) to live for, further eliciting our sympathy.

Stanza Two

• In the second stanza, Maccaig shifts his focus from the beggar to a priest. He tells us that he “explained how clever it was of Giotto to make his frescoes tell stories”. This shows that the priest is acting more like a tour guide than a priest, and he himself has been corrupted by the excess of the church. He is far more concerned with the beauty of the artwork than with the beggar outside, who would have been St Francis’s priority.

• The priest says the frescoes would “reveal to the illiterate the goodness/of God and the suffering of His Son.” Maccaig notes the irony in this when he says “I understood the explanation and/the cleverness.” Maccaig is suggesting that rather than teaching the illiterate the truth of Christianity, the frescoes were a sort of propaganda tool – a way of teaching the illiterate only as much as they needed to know. Obviously a far better way to illuminate the illiterate would be to actually teach them to read the bible for themselves, but tools like the frescoes allowed the church to maintain control over the masses and solidify its power base.

• “I will not feel, I will not/feel” suggests that the poet is repeating this to himself, in essence psyching himself up for how he will feel when he has to confront his wife. The enjambment draws our attention to the word “feel”, emphasising the overwhelming emotion of the experience.

Notes on the Whole Poem

The title of the poem obviously lends it a very clear sense of place; Assisi, however, is also inextricably linked with St Francis. This gives the poem its irony – St Francis devoted his life to caring for the needy, yet the dwarf in the poem is ignored by the pilgrims. The beautiful churches in the town are built in honour of St Francis, but by forsaking the beggar, the tourists are forgetting what the saint stood for.

RED AMBER GREEN

Stanza Three

• Maccaig again shifts his focus in this stanza, this time from the priest to the tourists around him. Maccaig refers to the tourists using “rush” as a collective noun. This suggests that they are like a swarm or a herd, making them seem chaotic and numerous.

• He tells us they are “clucking contentedly”, which compares them to brainless chickens. The “clucking” may be their mindless chatter, or the alliteration could suggest that they are all taking pictures of the frescoes. Either way, Maccaig is clearly not impressed with their behaviour and disapproves of their attention being focused on the priest and frescoes, while ignoring the poor beggar outside.

• Maccaig continues the “chicken” metaphor when he says the tourists “fluttered after him”, making them seem erratic, almost like they are hanging on his every word.

• The idea of the tourists as chickens is again emphasized, when he tells us that the priest “scattered the grain of the Word”. This links back to the irony of the “cleverness” of the frescoes – the priest has a captive audience but feeds them only a few “grains” of the truth of Christianity, failing to follow the moral and ethical code he promotes, by ignoring the beggar.

• At the end of the stanza, Maccaig shifts his focus back where it started – to the dwarf. While at the start it was unclear whether Maccaig felt sympathy or disgust for the dwarf, it is clear now that his view is sympathetic. He describes him as a “ruined temple” who is simply passed by the tourists. This firstly is rather critical of the tourists, who do nothing to help, and also elicits further sympathy for the dwarf. He is described as “ruined”, suggesting that he is broken or rotten and will never be ‘normal’. But he is also described as a temple. This suggests that rather than the three tiers of churches, a far more fitting way to honour St Francis would be to continue his work by caring for men like the beggar. He is in essence a far greater temple in his honour than the churches will ever be.

• Maccaig uses a list of disabilities and vivid imagery to describe the awful physical appearance of the dwarf, saying “whose eyes/wept pus, whose back was higher/than his head, whose lopsided mouth”. This further emphasizes that the man is deserving of our sympathy and clearly in pain.

• However, at the end of the poem, Maccaig contrasts the dwarf’s physical appearance with his voice. He tells is that the dwarf “said Grazie in a voice as sweet/as a child's when she speaks to her mother/or a bird's when it spoke/to St Francis.” This shows that although the man is outwardly ugly and disabled, inwardly he has a real beauty that far outshines the priest, the tourists, or indeed the churches. Comparing his voice to a child suggests that the man is an innocent and should be treated with love and compassion. Of all of the people in the poem, it is the twisted beggar who is the courteous one, saying “Grazie” as the tourists pass.

• Ending the poem with “St Francis” shows that Maccaig feels that it important to follow in the footsteps of the saint rather than forget the true moral message of Christianity.

My Understanding of Assisi:

Aunt Julia Norman Maccaig

About the Poem

Norman Maccaig's Aunt lived on a small Scottish island, working on a croft and speaking her native Gaelic. In the poem, Maccaig – who was raised in the city in Edinburgh, talks of his frustration at not being able to communicate with his Aunt, or indeed understand her way of life, as they were so different. Maccaig obviously feels a deep connection with Julia and this part of his heritage, but he also deeply regrets that before he knew enough Gaelic to communicate with her, she was already dead. The poem connects the Aunt with the nature of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland – particularly earth, water, and air. The poet ends the poem angry and frustrated with himself that he did not make more of an effort to understand her when she was alive.

Making Links

This is a poem primarily about people, like Assisi, and relationships, like Sounds of the Day, Visiting Hour, and Memorial. It is less sad, though, as there is a vivid picture of a larger than life character, and more a sense of frustration than sadness.

The Poem

Aunt Julia

Aunt Julia spoke Gaelic very loud and very fast. I could not answer her — I could not understand her. She wore men's boots when she wore any. I can see her strong foot, stained with peat, paddling with the treadle of the spinningwheel while her right hand drew yarn marvellously out of the air. Hers was the only house where I've lain at night in the absolute darkness of a box bed, listening to crickets being friendly.

She was buckets and water flouncing into them. She was winds pouring wetly round house-ends. She was brown eggs, black skirts and a keeper of threepenny bits in a teapot. Aunt Julia spoke Gaelic very loud and very fast. By the time I had learned a little, she lay silenced in the absolute black of a sandy grave at Luskentyre. But I hear her still, welcoming me with a seagull's voice across a hundred yards of peatscrapes and lazybeds and getting angry, getting angry with so many questions unanswered.

Notes on the Whole Poem

The poem is very simple and straightforward, consisting of a vivid character described using metaphors. It gradually shifts from a character portrait to a piece of frustrated reflection. The tone of the poem shifts as it progresses – the first four stanzas are very general and reflect on the wider hospital. The fifth and sixth, however, are far more personal.

Stanza by Stanza Notes

Stanza One

• Aunt Julia is introduced immediately in the poem. We are told that she “spoke Gaelic very loud and very fast.” This immediately gives us the impression that she is a loud, brash character and immediately piques our interest.

• Maccaig then goes on to say “I could not answer her – I could not understand her.” Maccaig literally means here that they could not communicate because they spoke different languages, but also that they were so culturally different that he had no basis of understanding with her. The dash in these lines might also highlight the gulf in understanding between them: he is obviously fond of his Aunt, but there is a barrier between them that in life was insurmountable. The repetition of “I could not” might also demonstrate this feeling of frustration. These lines emphasise Maccaig’s frustration with his relationship with his Aunt, but later on in the poem he creates a strong, warmly affectionate picture of the woman, showing that his time spend staying with his Aunt was both appreciated, and memorable.

• The first stanza is very simple and clear – just statements of fact about his Aunt and his relationship with her. This perhaps mirrors Aunt Julia herself – living a simple life, isolated from the decadence of the city which Maccaig was used to.

Stanza Two

• In this stanza, Maccaig creates a very vivid impression of his Aunt. He tells us “She wore men's boots/when she wore any.” This tells is that she is rugged and works hard – if she needs men’s boots on the croft, her work must be physically demanding, and her footwear is simply practical – even to the extent where if she doesn’t need boots, she will go barefoot.

• Aunt Julia is linked with the earth in these lines, when Maccaig tells us “I can see her strong foot,/stained with peat” again highlighting the rugged, dirty work of the farm, however this time, her foot is “paddling with the treadle of the spinningwheel”, showing her engaged in a more domestic, indoor task. This suggests that Julia had a lot of work to do, and could clearly turn her hand to everything required of her. The line “paddling with the treadle of the spinningwheel” is long and rhythmic, mirroring the work that Aunt Julia would do. It adds a sense of motion to the poem, highlighting the fact that Julia is always busy.

• Maccaig tells us that she paddled “while her right hand drew yarn/marvellously out of the air.” The word choice of marvellously here suggests that there was almost something magical about the way she worked – she was obviously very skilled and Maccaig admires her for this.

• Although this stanza is one made up of memories, Maccaig uses the present tense, which helps emphasise the business surrounding Aunt Julia and suggests that the memories are still very vivid.

Stanza Three

• Maccaig starts this stanza with the pronoun “Hers”, further emphasising how important the Aunt was to Maccaig.

RED AMBER GREEN

In stanza three, Maccaig shows that despite the language and cultural barriers faced by him and his Aunt, he still felt safe and secure when he stayed with her. There is a strong sense of comfort when Maccaig talks of “the absolute darkness/of a box bed, listening to/crickets being friendly”, while also again showing the difference between what Maccaig is used to in the city, and what he experiences with Julia.

Stanza Four

• Stanza four makes up the bulk of the description of the character of Julia, and is made up of a series of metaphors and personification which associate her with the land and the environment in rural Scotland.

• Aunt Julia is first linked to water. We are told “She was buckets/and water flouncing into them.” This shows that Aunt Julia is so linked in Maccaig’s mind with her rural environment, that she is almost part of it, just like the buckets and the water in them. “Flouncing” furthers the impression of Aunt Julia as a loud, busy woman who is constantly doing something.

• She is then compared to the wind and rain. “She was winds pouring wetly/round house-ends” again associates her strongly with the environment and again creates a very vivid impression of her character. She is so loud and brash that she is almost like a little storm.

• Finally, she is linked with her farming work, as “She was brown eggs”. The completes the image of Aunt Julia as being inseparable from her natural environment.

• We also get more of an idea of her appearance in these lines, as we are told she is “black skirts”, further emphasizing her practicality when it comes to her dress sense.

Stanza Five

• Although this stanza begins with a repetition of the first lines, they are now in a different, much darker context. Whereas the previous stanza created a vivid and realistic impression of the character, the tone now shifts to that of frustration and regret.

• By the time Maccaig had learned enough Gaelic to converse with his Aunt, “she lay/silenced in the absolute black/of a sandy grave”. The enjambment of these lines draws our attention to the words “lay”, “silenced”, “black” and “grave”, emphasizing the darker tone at this point. The fact that Julia is now in a “sandy” grave shows that even in death, she is inseparable from her environment.

• “But I hear her still, welcoming me/with a seagull's voice” shows just how much of a lasting impression Julia has made on the poet, as he still remembers that strange, high pitched screech of her talking even now.

• The poem ends with “getting angry, getting angry/with so many

questions/unanswered”, ending on a note of frustration that their connection was not deeper. This is emphasized by the repetition of “angry”, and “unanswered” being left on a line of its own.

My Understanding of Aunt Julia:

Basking Shark Norman Maccaig

About the Poem

The poem describes the poet’s encounter with a basking shark while rowing out at sea. The chance meeting with the shark makes the poet question his opinions of both himself and the shark, and the poet reflects on how close he and the shark are on the evolutionary scale.

Making Links

The poem is about a personal experience, much like Visiting Hour and Assisi. It is also about a relationship, but unlike Memorial, Aunt Julia, Visiting Hour, or Sounds of the Day, it is not concerned with the poet’s relationship with another person, but with nature itself.

The Poem

Basking Shark To stub an oar on a rock where none should be, To have it rise with a slounge out of the sea Is a thing that happened once (too often) to me. But not too often - though enough. I count as gain That once I met, on a sea tin-tacked with rain, That roomsized monster with a matchbox brain. He displaced more than water. He shoggled me Centuries back - this decadent townee Shook on a wrong branch of his family tree. Swish up the dirt and, when it settles, a spring Is all the clearer. I saw me, in one fling, Emerging from the slime of everything. So who's the monster? The thought made me grow pale For twenty seconds while, sail after sail, The tall fin slid away and then the tail.

Notes on the Whole Poem

The title of the poem is Basking Shark, and that is what the poem is about. This highlights the simplicity of the shark itself, and also its elegance. Like the title of the poem, the shark serves its purpose; no more, and no less. This is in contrast to the poet, who is a “decadent townee” and lives a life of luxury, squandering his intelligence. The rhyme scheme of the poem also draws our attention to elegant simplicity; it is AAA, BBB, CCC, DDD, EEE. This creates a steady rhythm in the poem, perhaps mimicking the way the

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shark disturbs the waves. It is very simple, yet pleasing and effective. This effortless grace is further emphasized by the fact that only three words in the entire poem are more than two syllables long. Individually the words and vocabulary are simple, but they add up to make a sophisticated, complex, and beautiful work of art. Similarly, the basking shark itself is very simple and unintelligent, but it is very effective.

Stanza by Stanza Notes

Stanza One

• "Stub" suggests that the poet’s oar has hit something solid and unyielding, which doesn’t move even under the pressure of an oar.

• “Oar” ensures that we understand the poet is on a boat, and the fact that he is where no rocks should be suggests that he is relatively far out to sea. This immediately establishes that the poet is in the shark’s territory, and therefore at a disadvantage.

• The shark is compared to a “rock”, a metaphor which suggests it is hard, bulky, and without feeling or intelligence. This gives a very unfavourable impression of the shark, which appears to be simply a big hulking mass.

• "To have it rise" tells us that the shark is the party with all of the power in this situation. The infinitive of the verb makes it seem like this meeting is simply something which is happening to the poet, over which he has no control. It is the shark that is carrying out the action whereas the poet has no choice in what is happening to him.

• The word "slounge" is onomatopoeic and it suggests the noise of the waves as the shark leaves the water. It is also a clumsy word, again reminding us of the bulk of the shark. It almost seems to connote something which is slow and lazy, perhaps reminding us that the shark is of low intelligence.

• The poet seems to have been frightened by the encounter, saying that meeting the shark "Is a thing that happened once (too often) to me". He has not relished the encounter at all, but the brackets indicate a slightly humorous aside: the poet was scared at the time, but looking back on the encounter, he is trying to make light of it.

Stanza Two

• "But not too often - though enough" is a paradox: It seems to agree with what is suggested in stanza one – that this encounter was simply frightening. “But not too often” suggests, however, that the experience was actually a unique and important one, and one which the poet seems to value. Having had time to think about the incident, the poet seems to think he has learned something from the meeting.

• This is further highlighted when the poet claims "I count as gain" the experience. He acknowledges that he has gained something from the experience, and he goes on to explain what he has learned in the rest of the poem.

• In line 5 the poet uses the word "met": the element of shock has gone, and it now sounds more like the basking shark and the poet are meeting on an equal footing, suggesting some sort of harmony between them, in contrast to stanza two.

• "On a sea tin-tacked with rain" ties in with the later murkiness of the "slime" the poet refers to in Stanza four. Moreover, the alliterative phrase "tin-tacked" provides both visual and aural imagery. It helps us to imagine the water piercing the surface of the water violently, and the alliteration of "tin-tacked" also reminds us of the noise the raindrops will be making. This whole image has an almost primal feel, linking the poet with the much more primitive shark.

• Finally, in this stanza, Maccaig describes the shark as: "That roomsized monster with a matchbox brain". This use of contrast emphasises both the size and power of the shark, and its lack of intelligence. The word "roomsized" emphasises the sheer size and bulk of the shark. The word "monster" also places the shark very low down in the evolutionary scale; it is reminiscent of dinosaurs which existed millions of years ago. All this serves to demonstrate how basic and underdeveloped the shark is; an idea continued by "matchbox brain".

Stanza Three

• "He displaced more than water" shows that the shark's movements have caused the water to move violently, shifting the poet and his boat from their original position. However, the poet is also saying that the shark has caused him to question his position in the evolutionary process. Before meeting the shark, the poet seems to be quite content with his place in the order of things but now he is removed from that position, forced to reassess his views. The word "displaced" could also suggest the poet's discomfort at being forced to think that he might be nearer the shark on the ladder of evolution than he likes to acknowledge. This encounter, in other words, has entirely altered the way the poet feels about his relationship to the shark.

• “He shoggled me” links back to the sense that the shark is in control and the event could not be controlled by the poet. The word "shoggled" sounds clumsy, as if the poet is being moved around fairly violently in an ungainly movement over which he has no control.

• The enjambment between “he shoggled me” and “Centuries back” draws our attention to the word "Centuries", emphasising the fact that the shark is primitive and ancient. However, in the grand scheme of the evolutionary process, which is carried out over millions of years, centuries are not really a long time, perhaps suggesting a closer relationship between the poet and the shark than first thought.

• The poet describes himself as a "decadent townee". A "townee" is someone who lives in the town, but the word also suggests that such people choose to live in the town; they chose to live away from nature because they prefer it that way. The word "decadent" suggests someone who has no worthwhile purpose to their life, but lives only for luxury and enjoyment. This is a far cry from our origins when man's only concern was to find food and shelter enough to survive: early man had no time for luxury or enjoyment. In this sense, Maccaig is perhaps beginning to realise that unlike the shark, who is not intelligent but is effective, he is intelligent, but wasteful of his intellect.

• Usually, when we refer to a “family tree”, we think of our ancestors. Here, Maccaig is reminding us that the shark too, is part of his family tree; we are related to all of nature in the process of evolution. The shark is described as being a "wrong branch" - perhaps a branch that the poet doesn't want to admit exists, however one which he now recognises and acknowledges.

RED AMBER GREEN

Stanza Four

• The word "swish" here is onomatopoeic as it suggests the noise of moving water. It also describes the swirling movement of water and dirt. Once the swirling has stopped, we can see the spring of water more clearly from the dust having settled. In this image, the poet is comparing his encounter with the shark to the spring once the dust has settled. Suddenly, he sees his position in evolution much more clearly. In essence, his encounter with the shark has revealed a clearer truth to him.

• One "fling" from the shark makes him understand that his origins are shared with the shark, as well as all other living creatures. It also suggests that he is very close to the shark – indeed, only “one fling” away on the evolutionary family tree.

• The word "emerging" in the final line of the stanza suggests the idea of growing, of coming from darkness to light. It suggests the dawning of the truth on the poet.

• Like the shark, the poet has emerged from "the slime of everything". The word "slime" emphasises the baseness of our beginnings whereas the word "everything" shows how indistinct humans were from other species at the beginning of the evolutionary process. It essentially reveals a connectedness between humanity and all other living things, suggesting that we are not really all that superior to organisms like the shark.

Stanza Five

• This stanza begins with the question "So who's the monster?" At the beginning of the poem, the poet is almost insulting to the shark, dismissing it as a brainless monster. However, now he is not so sure of himself and not so confident that he is the superior being. Now he questions himself. Is he the monster? He is an intelligent being who has failed to use that intelligence usefully, whereas the shark fulfils its purpose completely, simply in sustaining itself. Despite the fact that he appears so much more advanced than the shark, is he really any more useful?

• This failure to use his intelligence is further highlighted when we realise that the poet only thinks about the question he has asked for twenty seconds. This suggests that his attention span is not really all that more impressive than the sharks.

• “The thought made me grow pale” shows that the writer is almost ashamed of the superiority he once felt over the basking shark. The experience has humbled him.

• Finally, in this stanza, the shark swims away. Our view of the shark has changed: the clumsy, bulky creature of the first stanza has been replaced by an elegant, graceful shark, which the poet compares to a ship sailing away: “sail after sail,/The tall fin slid away and then the tail.” Just as the poet has seen himself in a new light, he has also had to think about the shark in a new way. The poet is much more humble now and not so sure of his own superiority over the rest of nature.

• This poem teaches us to think about our relationship with nature in a new way. It may also cause us to question what we are doing to our world and each other. Are we really as intelligent and civilised as we like to think?

My Understanding of Basking Shark:

Brooklyn Cop Norman Maccaig

About the Poem

Brooklyn Cop is a character study, similar to Aunt Julia. But Maccaig also uses this poem to make a broad comment on society – he paints society (or at least that of 1960s Brooklyn) as somewhat peaceful on the surface, but violent, brutal and primitive underneath. Maccaig suggests that this veneer is very easily overcome by violence, and suggests that however distasteful the more animalistic elements of the cop may seem, they are perhaps necessary.

Making Links

There are some very clear links in this poem. It is a character study, like Aunt Julia, but the message of the poem is perhaps most clearly linked to Hotel Room, 12th Floor. Of course, contrast is also prevalent which means there are strong links to a number of other poems.

The Poem

Brooklyn Cop Built like a gorilla but less timid, thick-fleshed, steak-coloured, with two hieroglyphs in his face that mean trouble, he walks the sidewalk and the thin tissue over violence. This morning, when he said, ‘See you, babe’ to his wife, he hoped it, he truly hoped it. He is a gorilla to whom ‘Hiya, honey’ is no cliché. Should the tissue tear, should he plunge through into violence, what clubbings, what gunshots between Phoebe’s Whamburger and Louie’s Place. Who would be him, gorilla with a nightstick, whose home is a place he might, this time, never get back to? And who would be who have to be his victims?

Notes on the Whole Poem

The title of the poem tells a story – Brooklyn at this time was seen as dangerous, rough, and very highly populated with gangs and violent criminals. The fact our protagonist is described as a ‘cop’ is also relevant; this is American slang and at this time, around about the Civil Rights movement, cops were often portrayed in the media as brutal and oppressive.

Stanza by Stanza Notes

Stanza One

• Maccaig opens by telling us that the cop is ‘built like a gorilla, but less timid’. This gives us a very clear (and somewhat humorous) image of the cop – gorillas are obviously big and powerful and physically imposing, and the suggestion that one would appear ‘timid’ compared to the cop highlights very clearly the fact that this is not a man to be messed with. Although the idea of a timid gorilla is funny, this man certainly is not – he is brutal, violent, and animalistic.

• The poet continues by describing him as ‘thick-fleshed, steak-coloured’. By doing so, the cop seems solid and immovable; almost like one big callous that has been scarred over and over. Describing him as ‘steak-coloured’ suggests that he is simply a big hunk of meat. As well as this, there is also a suggestion of blood, butchery, and violence.

• There is some ambiguity over the ‘two hieroglyphs’. The most obvious interpretation is that they represent the cop’s eyes. Hieroglyphs are a form of ancient writing, which must be worked out or interpreted. This suggests that the cop’s eyes are unreadable – no one knows what goes on behind his steady, unfathomable gaze. The fact that they ‘mean trouble’ suggests a lack of inner emotion shown on his face, he simply looks intimidating. The other interpretation is that the hieroglyphs represent scars. This again shows how violent the cop’s existence so far has been. As hieroglyphs would often be carved or drawn on stone, this is another way to make the cop seem solid, and unmoving, more like an object than a person.

• Referring to the ‘sidewalk’ again gives us a sense of place, but also suggests that the cop is ‘on the beat’ or patrolling like some kind of warden or guardian. This is the first hint that despite his brutal exterior, in fact the cop is a protector that we need.

• Maccaig refers here for the first time to the ‘thin tissue’ over violence, suggesting that the barrier between civilization and brutality is more fragile than we might care to consider, and so therefore the cop has a very important job. This makes a similar point to the message in Hotel Room, 12th Floor, that the violent nature of humanity is potentially much more powerful than any façade of civilization we might create in order to fool us into believing we are somehow enlightened. This ‘thin tissue’ also serves as a pleasing contrast with the ‘thick-fleshed’ cop, which makes the potential for the thin tissue to tear even more tangible.

• Maccaig describes a domestic scene, of the cop saying ‘see you, babe’ to his wife when he leaves in the morning. First of all this helps humanize the cop and elicit our sympathy, but also by repeating ‘he hoped it’, Maccaig highlights that for this man, every day and every work shift represents potentially mortal danger – the phrase is a cliché for most but for the cop it is a very genuine and desperate plea – like he is willing himself to return that evening safe and secure.

• The final two lines of this stanza really serve to highlight the complexity of the character – he is again described as a ‘gorilla’, which emphasizes his brutal, animalistic nature; yet we see another domestic cliché here when he says ‘Hiya honey’. Again, this shows his human side and elicits our empathy as we see him interact with his loved one. The sympathetic side of the character is therefore starkly juxtaposed with the violent, imposing side.

RED AMBER GREEN

Stanza Two

• The second stanza is full of uncertainty. The poet repeats the word ‘should’ here to suggest that every day the cop is faced with countless possibilities of what might happen. He could find himself embroiled in violence and mortal danger at any point, and for this he is deserving of our sympathy.

• When Maccaig suggests the ‘tissue’ could ‘tear’, he firstly emphasizes the fragile nature of that layer of civilization. However, the image is also violent in and of itself – tissue could also refer to skin and muscle, and the idea of the tissue tearing almost has connotations of joints being wrenched from sockets, and man perpetrating violence against his fellow man.

• The word choice of ‘plunge’ is also interesting here – we understand how quickly the cop’s world could change – it suggests a quick, sudden change which the cop may not be expecting.

• The repetition of ‘should’ is emphasized with the repetition of ‘what’ – this again hints at uncertainty. What comes after the ‘what’ is also important. The violence could take the form of ‘clubbings’ or ‘gunshots’. Both are violent but ‘gunshots’ suggests a quick, swift execution, whereas ‘clubbings’ sound much more primitive and frightening.

• The two places named in this stanza again reiterate the place in the poem. “Whamburger” is particularly interesting though as it is somewhat onomatopoeic – it sounds like someone being clubbed: WHAM! The places also sound rather cheap and grubby, which further makes the environment the cop inhabits seem intimidating and unsafe.

Stanza Three

• At this point the poet asks us to reflect on ourselves in comparison to the cop – he asks rhetorical questions to make us consider whether we could do this man’s job. The cop is again referred to as a ‘gorilla’, this time with a ‘nightstick’, or truncheon or club. This equates the cop to those carrying out the ‘clubbings’ in the previous stanza – the cop and the criminals are not so dissimilar – but perhaps we need people like him.

• We are again reminded of the domestic life of the cop, when Maccaig refers to ‘home’, a place of comfort and safety. But to the cop, there is a real possibility of never returning. When Maccaig says ‘this time’, he reminds us that the NEXT time, and time after that, are much less certain.

Stanza Four

• In the final stanza, Maccaig makes it abundantly clear that he sympathizes with both the cop, and those he is protecting us against. When he says ‘who have to be’, he perhaps suggests that some of these criminals have no choice, due to race, social class or societal pressures. By referring to them as ‘victims’ he also elicits sympathy and paints the cop, again, as scary and intimidating.

My Understanding of Brooklyn Cop:

Hotel Room, 12th Floor Norman Maccaig

About the Poem

Just like Brooklyn Cop, Maccaig uses New York to comment on (supposedly) modern civilisation – he suggests that no matter how civilised we might pretend to be, we are actually brutal and violent under the surface. The brutal side of mankind (as represented by the darkness in the poem) is far more powerful than civilisation (or light). The poet ultimately concludes that we will never escape this side to our existence.

Making Links

In Hotel Room, 12th Floor, Maccaig reflects on an aspect of human existence, in a similar way to Brooklyn Cop, Basking Shark, and Assisi. It links very strongly with the other New York poem in the selection. It is also full of contrast and effective imagery.

The Poem

Hotel Room, 12th Floor This morning I watched from here a helicopter skirting like a damaged insect the Empire State Building, that jumbo size dentist’s drill, and landing on the roof of the PanAm skyscraper. But now midnight has come in from foreign places. Its uncivilised darkness is shot at by a million lit windows, all ups and acrosses. But midnight is not so easily defeated. I lie in bed, between a radio and a television set, and hear the wildest of warwhoops continually ululating through the glittering canyons and gulches— police cars and ambulances racing to the broken bones, the harsh screaming from coldwater flats, the blood glazed on sidewalks. The frontier is never somewhere else. And no stockades can keep the midnight out.

Notes on the Whole Poem

I love this poem – Maccaig cleverly uses Wild West imagery to comment on modern society.

Stanza by Stanza Notes

Stanza One

• At the start of the poem, Maccaig is safe and distant. He places the poem firmly in the ‘morning’ and by saying ‘I watched from here’ – that is to say, from the safety of the 12th floor of his hotel room – he suggests that he is simply an observer to events – at a distance.

• The poet then employs a number of really effective juxtapositions which undermines our inherent confidence in modern, Western civilization. He describes a helicopter, which is traditionally seen as a symbol of wealth and power and the decadence of a technologically advanced society. He uses a simile to compare it to a ‘damaged insect’. This symbol of power and Man’s conquering of nature (through flight), is reduced to a small, fragile insect. This undermines our interpretation of the helicopter and makes it seem weak and easily broken. In fact, it is described as ‘damaged’ which weakens the image even further. Our symbol of progress is ultimately reduced to something pathetic.

• Maccaig also mentions the ‘Empire State Building’, at time of writing the tallest building on Earth. Again, a symbol of how advanced we are as a society – it represents mankind’s engineering prowess and supposed cleverness. However, this metaphor undermines the subject. It is compared to a dentist’s drill, which for many people symbolizes irrational fear, pain and discomfort. What should be a symbol we have absolute confidence in is now linked in our minds to negative feelings and personal discomfort. Maccaig describes the building as ‘jumbo sized’ which is obviously not a particularly sophisticated use of vocabulary. There is a childish naivety about the word which further emphasizes how childish our confidence in these symbols is.

• The second half of this stanza is much darker (literally and figuratively!) By saying ‘but now’, Maccaig suggests that things change immediately. He describes the midnight (and therefore darkness) coming from ‘foreign places’. This hints at a feeling of fear and mystery – the unknown is intimidating and frightening. This idea is continued with ‘uncivilised darkness’. The suggestion that darkness represents a lack of civilization or civility in the poem is an important one. It allows Maccaig to create a very stark contrast between good and evil, light and dark, civilisation and barbarism.

• By saying the darkness is ‘shot at’, Maccaig creates the idea of a war between these different factions. The darkness and light, and therefore civilisation and brutality, are at war. Maccaig suggests that this is the case in society, but also within us ourselves – we are constantly engaged in a battle between the civilised façade that we put up, and the brutal violent thoughts which plague us all.

• We can imagine really clearly the light shooting out of the windows of the skyscrapers, desperately trying to hold the darkness at bay. The fact that there are a ‘million’ of these lights, emphasises just how desperately we try to hold it back. Ultimately, however, the darkness is the more powerful force and our attempts to defend against it appear feeble and inadequate.

America is a relatively young, modern country. At a time where in the UK Victorian ladies and gentlemen were desperate to preserve decorum and modesty, America was a hostile and brutal place full of ‘cowboys and indians’. Nowadays, America is the epitome of Western society – but perhaps Maccaig is questioning just how far it has come?

RED AMBER GREEN

• Ending the stanza with ‘ups and acrosses’ does two things – firstly it gives us a very clear image of the lit skyscrapers (almost like a crossword puzzle). Secondly, however, the sound we are left with is ‘crosses’ which has connotations of a religious attempt to protect against evil.

Stanza Two

• Maccaig begins this stanza by highlighting again the power of the darkness – he tells us that ‘midnight is not/so easily defeated’. In this war between what is perceived as civilised, and the violence within, it seems the darkness may overcome the light.

• Maccaig describes a really pathetic image – we imagine him curled up in his bed in his hotel room, childishly surrounding himself with symbols of man’s advancement. He is cowering in his dark room with a radio on one side of his and a television on the other, desperately trying to keep himself safe and protected.

• Over the noise of the radio and TV, however, Maccaig can hear ‘the wildest of warwhoops continually ululating’. This is the start of the Wild West imagery. A warwhoop is the ‘wah-wah-wah…’ sound that Native American’s make in old Western movies. It represents a war cry as they charge into battle. The alliteration of the ‘W-’ sound helps us to imagine the sound. This is a particularly apt image as of course, Western Europeans who colonised America saw the natives as savages, in need of civilising. But here Maccaig is suggesting that regardless, the same brutality still goes on, albeit perhaps in a slightly different form. The noises are ‘continually ululating’ which suggest that they are repetitive (which we know the sounds are) but also maybe hints that they keep going and will never stop.

• Maccaig describes the streets as ‘glittering canyons and gulches’. This is an effective comparison because it accurately describes the spaces between the skyscrapers, but is also linked to the geography of the old west, further strengthening this link. ‘Glittering’ suggests a garish attempt to make them seem more impressive, but ultimately, the landscape has not changed. The red earth and stone of the desert has just been replaced with the glass and steel and concrete of the city.

• We now find out where the warwhoop sounds are coming from – in modern New York, they have been replaced by the sirens from the emergency vehicles. Maccaig gives us a list of where they are going, which suggests an underbelly of violence, and poverty which is not apparent during the day. ‘Broken bones’ are dehumanised, simply faceless victims. ‘Harsh screaming’ is a scary image, coming from ‘coldwater flats’ which have connotations of slum living. The fact the blood is ‘glazed’ suggests that it is both built up over the course of years, but is also shiny and fresh.

Stanza Three

• In the final stanza, Maccaig refers to ‘the frontier’ which again harks to the Wild West, referring to the border between civilization and barbarism. He suggests that we cannot escape this eternal battle, and no matter how much we try to protect ourselves with barriers – the ‘stockades’ of our civilised ideals – the fight is never far away. Ultimately, the darkness within us all is a powerful force which will win out in the end. Cheery!

My Understanding of Hotel Room, 12th Floor:

Visiting Hour Norman Maccaig

About the Poem

The poem describes the poet’s experience while visiting his (possibly) terminally ill wife in hospital. He begins by describing the activity of the hospital, before describing his wife lying in her ward, and the feelings this evokes. He ends the poem reflecting on the pointlessness of his visit.

Making Links

The poem is about a personal experience, much like Basking Shark and Assisi. It is far more personal than these, though, reflecting on death, and also loss of a loved one, like Memorial and Sounds of the Day. It is also a poem primarily about people, like Assisi and Aunt Julia.

The Poem

Visiting Hour The hospital smell combs my nostrils as they go bobbing along green and yellow corridors. What seems a corpse is trundled into a lift and vanishes heavenward. I will not feel, I will not feel, until I have to. Nurses walk lightly, swiftly, here and up and down and there, their slender waists miraculously carrying their burden of so much pain, so many deaths, their eyes still clear after so many farewells.

Ward 7. She lies in a white cave of forgetfulness. A withered hand trembles on its stalk. Eyes move behind eyelids too heavy to raise. Into an arm wasted of colour a glass fang is fixed, not guzzling but giving. And between her and me distance shrinks till there is none left but the distance of pain that neither she nor I can cross. She smiles a little at this black figure in her white cave who clumsily rises in the round swimming waves of a bell and dizzily goes off, growing fainter, not smaller, leaving behind only books that will not be read and fruitless fruits.

Notes on the Whole Poem

The title, Visiting Hour, very quickly establishes the setting and the situation. It is clearly set in a hospital, and concerns a visit with a loved one. The tone of the poem shifts as it progresses – the first four stanzas are very general and reflect on the wider hospital. The fifth and sixth, however, are far more personal.

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Stanza by Stanza Notes

Stanza One

• "The hospital smell/combs my nostrils" emphasises how invasive and powerful the smell of the hospital is. From the first line, Maccaig has engaged our senses and created a very vivid impression. The smell of a hospital is one which is very evocative and has unpleasant connotations for a lot of people, so straight away we share Maccaig’s feelings.

• “Combs” suggests that the smell is one which is strong and deep, emphasising this unpleasantness.

• “Bobbing along” creates a humorous image of Maccaig’s nostrils floating along the corridor independent of him. He uses synecdoche for comic effect, making light of his situation to avoid thinking about the intense emotional experience to come. He in effect distances himself from the painful situation.

• The fact that the corridors are “green and yellow” further evokes strong negative feelings about the hospital, as green and yellow are colours which usually symbolise disease, decay, and putrefaction.

Stanza Two

• The poet is clearly preoccupied by thoughts of death in this stanza. He says “What seems a corpse”, showing that he is thinking about death, and also expecting the worst. He does not know if the body is actually dead – it simply “seems” a corpse.

• This is further highlighted when the poet tells us it is “trundled into a lift and vanishes/heavenward”. The body is simply going up in an elevator but to Maccaig, it seems to be disappearing to heaven. As well as further emphasising his preoccupation with death, this is also another example of Maccaig using black humour in order to distance himself from the upsetting situation.

Stanza Three

• “I will not feel, I will not/feel” suggests that the poet is repeating this to himself, in essence psyching himself up for how he will feel when he has to confront his wife. The enjambment draws our attention to the word “feel”, emphasising the overwhelming emotion of the experience.

• The fact that the poet then says “until/I have to” shows us that he is aware that he is going to have to face the situation he is in eventually, but he is simply putting it off, and he is conscious of the fact that this is all he is doing by making his little jokes and distancing himself from the pain.

• Having “I have to” on a line of its own further underscores the inevitability of the pain.

Stanza Four

• The confused structure (this is called inversion) of the lines “Nurses walk lightly, swiftly,/here and up and down and there” suggests a sense of chaos and busyness. It suggests that there are lots of nurses and they are all over the hospital. The strange

word order might also hint at the poet’s intense, emotional state of mind, suggesting that his thoughts are muddled or fragmented.

• “Their slender waists miraculously/carrying their burden” gives us an angelic impression of the nurses – Norman Maccaig clearly admires them as they look fragile, but are actually strong enough to shoulder their “burden”. The juxtaposition of “slender” nurse with their “burden” suggests awe and wonder, and a strong mentality.

• The repetition of “so much pain, so/many deaths, their eyes/still clear after/so many farewells” has a cumulative effect. It seems as if the nurses have a long list of things to deal with and they are constantly surrounded by suffering, and Maccaig admires the fact that they can cope with this.

• Eyes/still clear” suggests envy or jealousy that the “slender” nurses can cope with so much, yet Maccaig himself is struggling to even face up to his own personal suffering.

Stanza Five

• At this point, the poem becomes much more personal and harrowing. Up until now, the poet was suffering, but only in the sense that he was putting off the real pain to be faced later. Here, however, he actually enters the ward and looks at his emaciated wife. The tone of the poem shifts and becomes far darker, and even frustrated, that there is an inevitable distance between him and his wife.

• “Ward 7” is very blunt, and a very short line. This emphasises the shift in the poem, and the fact that the poet is now having to face up to the situation.

• “She lies/in a white cave of forgetfulness” suggests that the wife is helpless, and also suggests distance. Literally, the white cave could simply be the clinical hospital room, but it could also represent the distant isolation of a body in a coma, or drifting in and out of consciousness.

• The poet begins to depersonalise the figure in front of him, firstly by referring to “A withered hand” which trembles on “its stalk”. “A” and “its” objectifies the wife, making the fragile body easier for the poet to look at, as it removes the personal feelings involved.

• “Stalk” emphasises this, as it is probably a word we would more readily assign to a fragile, breakable part of a plant, rather than a living person, let alone one we care deeply about.

• This is continued when the poet tells us “eyes move/behind eyelids too heavy/to raise”. Again, this is impersonal, but it also suggests absolute exhaustion and conveys powerfully just how weak the wife is.

• Maccaig further depersonalises his wife when he says “Into and arm wasted/of colour a glass fang is fixed”. He uses “an” again to objectify her, and he also conveys the violent and invasive procedures she has undergone – the drip giving her blood is seen as a “fang” and the use of the “f” and “g” sounds are harsh.

• “Not guzzling but giving” turns the role of the fang on its head. Fangs are usually associated with vampires and generally drain blood from the subject, rather than giving. This shows that although the “fang” is helping Maccaig’s wife, he sees it as violent and invasive. It actually seems to be draining life.

RED AMBER GREEN

• The final image of this stanza is a very powerful and intimate one. Maccaig tells us that “Between her and me/distance shrinks till there is none left/but the distance of pain that neither she nor I/can cross”. The poet leans down to kiss his wife, but even in that most intimate and private of moments, where they should be so close, he feels a real tangible distance between them. The pain she is in and her illness creates an almost physical barrier between them, and he is unable to experience the pleasure and intimacy of kissing his loved one. He cannot empathise with her because he lacks the understanding of her pain, and she is not lucid enough to appreciate the kiss, therefore it is wasted.

• The word “distance” is also repeated twice in the space of two lines here, drawing the reader’s attention to it.

Stanza Six

• In this final stanza, we see the first flicker of recognition from Maccaig’s wife. We are told she “smiles a little at this/black figure in her white cave”. This suggests some degree of recognition, but he is simply a “black figure”. When contrasted with the “white cave”, it seems as if the poet does not really belong there, and seems almost like an intruder into the wife’s semi-conscious state.

• This further enhances the idea that they are distant from each other. If Maccaig is simply reduced to a vague figure, he could essentially be anyone. This makes it unclear if the wife’s smile was one of recognition, or simply the acknowledgement of a presence.

• Maccaig then tells us that he “clumsily rises/in the round swimming waves of a bell”. This is an ambiguous (unclear) image – is Maccaig the one who is clumsy, perhaps because of the shock of seeing his wife in this position, or does he just appear clumsy from the semi-lucid point of view of the wife? Either way, it underscores the intense emotion of the poem.

• The “swimming waves of a bell” is an example of synaesthesia. This is when one sense is described in terms of another – in this example, sound is made to seem like something you could feel. This gives us an impression that the poet (or perhaps the patient) hears the bell only in a muffled, dizzy kind of way, perhaps again highlighting the intense emotion of the experience. This is further enhanced by “and dizzily goes off”.

• As he leaves, Maccaig tells us he is “growing fainter,/not smaller”. This suggests that rather than getting up and walking away, he simply fades away, perhaps as his wife again loses consciousness.

• The final lines of the poem sum it up perfectly. Maccaig tells us he leaves behind “books that will not be read,/and fruitless fruits”. His wife cannot read the books he leaves, as she is not well enough, and the oxymoron of the “fruitless fruits” suggests the idea of pointlessness. We typically bring sick people fruit as a gift, but in this case it is fruitless, as it won’t be eaten. The whole visit could be described as fruitless, as no one has gained from it – the wife is too sick to understand, and Maccaig feels worse.

My Understanding of Visiting Hour: