brooklyn cop

The first 200 words of this essay...

Brooklyn cop

By Norman McCaig

Choose a poem that gives a vivid portrayal of a character.

Comment on the techniques used to portray this character.

The poem "Brooklyn Cop" is written by Norman McCaig. In this poem he uses different techniques to give a vivid portrayal of cop in America.

This poem is set in Brooklyn, New York. New York is a very violent city, it has the hardest toughest policemen in the world. This describes the stereotypical American cop - big, tough, and thick, but the cop is human, with human hopes and fears. Everyday he risks being caught up in the local violence when the violence could turn nasty. Everyday he puts his life at risk, and this describes his desire to get back home to his wife.

At the start of the poem we start getting a vivid picture of the cop. "Built like a gorilla", is a simile and it tells us that he is a medium sized man with a big build and has a lot of thick dark hair. He is different from a gorilla because he is not as shy. We know this when