The city sounds even more sinister when he describes dark. He tells us that the “midnight has come in from foreign places.” The use of personification of the darkness makes it sound even more dangerous than it really is because by giving it human features it can physically harm us. It is also a metaphor because he tells us the dark car from a “foreign” place, so that means that the dark is also foreign or even alien to the citizens of New York.
Darkness is personified for the second time when the speaker says that it’s “uncivilised.” This makes the reader think that the darkness wild as well as dangerous, making the city more open to violence.
There is powerful imagery when the author conveys to us that the light is fighting against the darkness. He explains to us that the “darkness is shot at by a million lit windows” making darkness seem evil as it’s also from a foreign place. Even though the “darkness is shot at,” it’s “not so easily defeated” making the darkness seem intensely powerful because even the local citizens can’t stop it.
It seems like there is a gigantic and horrible battle by using the words “defeated” and “shot.” In most battles and wars, one side is defeated, and in this case it’s the light which is on the local citizens’ side! Next he describes the sounds he hears as “warhoops.” This makes the darkness seem dangerous to the people there, as people from the Wild West used to do warhoops as a sign of commencing battle therefore the darkness will seem wild to the reader. MacCaig then goes onto real non specific violence when he writes about the citizens there. He mentions that the “cars and ambulances” are “racing”, making it seem obvious that there are lots, of emergencies by using the word, “racing.” There is effective alliteration when the speaker states that there are, “broken bones.” It is effective because you can almost hear the sound of the bones crunching and breaking, which is created by the strong “b” sound.
We get a sense of terror and extreme pain from the people there when we find out that he could hear “harsh screaming.” Although screaming isn’t anything surprising to us, the word “harsh” shows us that there is a really good reason for the scream.
He eventually indicates to us that there was death when he refers to the “blood glazed sidewalks.” By having the word “glazed,” it makes the blood put there purposely and as a decoration like when cakes are “glazed.”
In the last paragraph of the poem, MacCaig remarks on the violence of the city that “the frontier is never somewhere else,” making it seem as the most unwanted place to ever go, because all the violence is there.
In the last sentence, the immense power of the darkness is revealed when MacCaig points out that “no stockades can keep the midnight out.” The darkness seems so immensely powerful and lethal because stockades are barriers make to stop anything that comes against it. So if we can’t keep the darkness away from NY, nothing can.
I think that the message MacCaig is trying to get across to us is that Crime and violence can affect lots of people, even a whole city, and that it’s impossible stop it or fight it. He cleverly personified the darkness to get this message across to us.
Edwin Morgan’s poem “Glasgow 5th March 1971” is also about crime and violence in the society but Edwin Morgan has some different views of it but they also share some same views about it which you can see from the poems.
“Glasgow 5th March 1971” also sounds like a realistic title, just like MacCaig’s title. Is sounds as if there was and incident there in real life.
First of all, poet describes the broken glass as a “ragged diamond.” This creates a contrasted image as broken glass looks completely different to what it looked like when it was in one piece. The word “ragged is good word choice because the word itself sounds bumpy and jagged and also like what it means. So it’s much easier to imagine the shape of the broken glass.
Morgan comments on the “Man’s face” as “bristling with fragments of glass.” The poet doesn’t acknowledge us of any bloodiness or pain that the man is in, unlike MacCaig because when MacCaig writes about the injured people, he mentions “broken bones” and “Harsh screaming” which clearly indicates the pain the suffering people must be in.
There is specific violence when Morgan notifies us that the girl “spurts arterial when Morgan notifies us that the girl who is with the man, “spurts arterial blood” when she is pushed through a shop window. On the other hand, MacCaig only hints at violence and talks about the pain the victims are in like when he is talking about “broken bones” and “screaming.” By using the word “arterial,” he lets us know how deep the cut really is and it also makes the wound seem lethal.
Morgan also uses alliteration in his poem in the same way as MacCaig uses it. They both use it when they are talking about the after affects of the crime and violence on people. There is alliteration when the letter “w” is repeated in “wet look white coat.” This reflects the soft sound of the blood is splattering on her coat as the “w” sound is also has that soft sound. The image created is very violent because red blood clearly stands out on a white coat. The red blood will clearly contrast with the white coat, clearly standing out. MacCaig also uses one violent image like this when he talks about the “blood glazed sidewalks,” which will also stand out.
The two victims of the crime, man and girl, both have their arms “starfished out” and “braced for impact.” This clearly reveals to us that both people were taken by surprise from looking at the word “starfished”. Their shear fear is shown by the phrase “braced for impact” as they don’t know what is happening to them presently and what could happen to them next. This is an example of extreme emotion. MacCaig uses extreme emotion as well but he used it to describe the pain the victims were in.
Morgan describes either one or two people at a time whereas MacCaig describes what is happing to lots of people as they are affected by violence.
Morgan has another phrase with alliteration when the faces of the victims “show surprise, shock,” as the “s” and “sh” sounds are repeated. This mirrors the sound of the broken glass as the two victims move about.
At the end, Morgan reveals that the “two youths,” where the criminals who pushed the couple through the window. He also reveals two more witnesses in the background driving there car, but they purposely drive away and choose not to get involved.
I think that the message Morgan is trying to get across is that crime and violence can happen to anyone, anywhere and that it is not being helped by people to stop it as more and more people are becoming apathetic and not getting involved. So they both share similar views.
In conclusion, I think the both want their readers to know that crime and violence can’t be stopped and that it can happen to anyone, wherever you go. They both write in different ways to get similar points across; Edwin Morgan writes specific violence whereas Norman MacCaig writes violence in general or non specific violence. After looking at both poems, I have learnt that crime and violence is everywhere and that everyone should put in effort, together, if we want it to be completely stopped. Edwin Morgan’s and Norman MacCaig’s poems are based on two completely different cities. They are almost at the opposite side of the world to each other, yet, they still share similar ideas about crime and violence.
By Siddharth Manikonda 10 T
