visiting hour Flashcards
“smell”
pungent hospital antiseptic smell is something everyone is familiar with- the first thing that hits us- suggests feelings of discomfort
“combs my nostrils”
metaphor-image of a comb eye- wateringly being brushed through his nasal hair. the poet establishes a humorous mood to begin with, although the experience would bring tears to our eyes.
“green” “yellow”
WC-colours have connotations of sickness and disease: vomit, pus and etc. which further stresses the poets discomfort in these surroundings
“seems” “corpse”
WC- seems unclear weather the body is really dead, but the poet is allowing his imagination to wonder.
“vanishes”
WC- surreal/ darkly humorous
WC-“trundled”
gives the impression, that it is heavy and staff pushing it are business like, the tone is now less light hearted.
“heavenward”
WC-pun on humorous idea. body perhaps going only upwards but hot to heaven/ end stop line to show lift stopping at its destination. the image is surreal/ darkly humorous we often use humor to put how we actually feel about death.
“I will not feel” “I will not feel”
repetition- poet seems to be chanting to himself as if this is a manta(a word or sound repeated to aid concentration in meditation) to control his emotions
” I have to “
WC- shows his realisation that he will eventually be forced to confront his emotions
“miraculously” “still clear” “their eyes”
WC- the poet admires their difficult job facing death regularly- “miraculously” - suggests he cannot understand how they can do this difficult job and remain untouched. remaining clear eyed and professional.
“so” “so” “so”
repetition- stresses the frequency of the nurses unpleasant dealings and the difficulty of doing such a job yet still moving on.
“lightly, swiftly, here and up and down and there”
structure(inversion)- unusual word order of common phrases: not here and there and up and down. this emphasises the number of nurses he sees and their random activities- tone has become lighter again by adverbs such as lightly and swiftly-WC
“Ward 7.”
short/minor sentence and cesura draws attention to the turning point in the poem. the caesura signals that he stopped-end of journey.
“white cave of forgetfulness”
metaphor- white curtains pulled around her/ her white room are cave like this shows isolation and the poets exclusion from her.
“withered hand trembles on its stalk”
metaphor- woman’s hand and wrist is brittle, frail and thin comparing it to a dying flower.
