Visiting Hour

Question 1

How is setting and character established in this poem?

Answer 1

“the hospital smell combs my nostrils as they go bobbing along”

• ## We know the speaker is visiting a sick loved one in hospital

Question 2

Explain the use of synecdoche

Answer 2

synecdoche – where the nostrils come to represent the whole of him
a humorous image – will form a contrast with the seriousness to be faced later in the poem

Question 3

Word Choice of “hospital and green”

Answer 3

word choice “hospital” and “green and yellow” bring connotations of sickness at the start of the poem

Question 4

What implied smell do we get at the start of the poem and how does this appeal to the readers memory and smell?

Answer 4

“the hospital smell” his first impression is of the overwhelming smell of the antiseptic, his journey inside the hospital will be as overwhelming as the smell.
Furthermore, use of the word ‘The’, rather than an alternative such a ‘A’, hints at the universality of the experience – the reader will almost certainly recognise the smell of a hospital, and as readers we are therefore immediately involved in the event.

Question 5

Title: “Visiting Hour”

Answer 5

– As soon as we read this, we begin to make assumptions about the content of the poem – someone is ill, in hospital, and another person is going to visit them. Most people who have visited a loved one in hospital (probably the vast majority of readers) will remember it as being an experience which is at best difficult, and at worst excruciating. Before we even begin to read the poem itself, then, a definite sense of trepidation has been developed by the poet.

Question 6

How do we know the speaker is tense

Answer 6

The fact that the visitor’s senses are so alert implies that he is tense, and whilst the cause for this tension becomes apparent later, readers may already begin to get an idea of what is going on.

Question 7

“combs my nostrils” - analysis

Answer 7

MacCaig’s use of the word “combs” to depict the impact of the clinical odour of the hospital is excellent, suggesting as it does a much more physical and tangible impact than alternatives such as ‘fills’, ‘saturates’ or even ‘brushes’. Such precise emphasis on the smell of the hospital also suggests that the speaker’s other senses may be being overpowered at this stage.

Question 8

Word Choice - “bobbing” ANALYSIS ONE

Answer 8

Whilst there is an obvious interpretation to this (the physical action which is a consequence of walking) there are other connotations of the word “bobbing” and the implications of MacCaig’s use of it.
Bobbing may, for example, refer to the action of an object adrift and powerless in rough water, implying the speaker’s apparent lack of control over his situation, and the overwhelming effect of the hospital environment upon his senses. The speaker is at the mercy of his environment in the same way as an apple would be in a bucket of water.

Question 9

“bobbing” ANALYSIS TWO

Answer 9

An alternative interpretation of this word choice is that the speaker, in an attempt to maintain his composure, is walking down the corridor in a deliberately merry, bouncy way – this certainly makes sense if we consider the strong focus on the perceptual senses to be an attempt to distract himself from the reality of the situation. These two interpretations are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

Question 10

“seems a corpse”

Has the speaker begun to distrust his senses? Is the weight of his experience blurring the lines of what is real and what is false, as well as living and dead?

Answer 10

the presumption of death is noteworthy in itself, reflecting as it does the speaker’s emotional state. It is almost guaranteed that what he sees is not a corpse, as no hospital has a policy of moving deceased patients around during visiting times. The speaker is, in all likelihood, looking at a pile of bed linen, or a patient who is still alive; his inability to get the idea of death out of his head tells us a great deal about the nature of this visit, the condition of the patient, and the emotional state of the visitor.

Question 11

“trundled” - Word Choice

Answer 11

Line 6: “trundled” - Readers may be shocked by MacCaig’s word choice here, suggesting as it does the lack of care and attention associated with, for example, pushing a shopping trolley across a car park. We know that the emotions of the visit are overwhelming the speaker’s senses, and must therefore consider the possibly that the implied carelessness of the scene is itself a consequence of this psychological battle (similar to the ‘green and yellow corridors’).

Question 12

“Heavenward”

Answer 12

“heavenward” - The combination of ‘heaven’ and ‘ward’ demonstrates the extent to which the hospital environment has saturated the speaker’s mind, leaving him unable to disassociate his immediate environment from a mental image of heaven. MacCaig deliberately uses this choice of word rather than ‘upward’ due to its connotations of death. The effect of this is especially strong as the idea of an afterlife is not only invariably ethereal, but also universal – it is the one concept which readers are guaranteed to imagine in a non-corporeal sense, yet here these attributes are reversed, further representing the speaker’s gradual but increasingly inevitable surrender to the hospital environment and its effect upon him.

Question 13

Exploring a character/relationship

Answer 13

•Content (willingness to go through a painful experience for another)

Question 14

Dealing with personal/social issues, exploring human nature:

Answer 14

•Content (loss of loved one, facing difficult situation)

Question 15

Developing a mood, creating an atmosphere or describing a scene:

Answer 15

•Content (loss of loved one, progress through the hospital, arrival at ward)

Question 16

“I will not feel…I have to”

Answer 16

Like a sort of mantra. This stanza suggests that the speaker is chanting to himself in an explicit effort to control his emotions. MacCaig makes effective use of enjambment in order to undermine the aforementioned attempt at emotional control, representing as it does some stuttering or hesitation in the speaker’s internal monologue. It is worth noting that this section of the poem is completely internal and, therefore, exclusively personal. Nonetheless, MacCaig manages to also give a sense of universality by breaking the speaker’s emotional control before our eyes.

Question 17

“Nurses walk here and up and down and there”

Answer 17

• Here, MacCaig uses word order to explore the fact that the inner-workings of the hospital environment are so bewilderingly alien to the reader. By altering the expected order of the phrase ‘here and there and up and down’, MacCaig emphasises the sense of being adrift in a chaotic and intimidating environment (a feeling previously experienced by the speaker in the first stanza of the poem).

Question 18

“their slender…many deaths”

Answer 18

• In this example, MacCaig mirrors the intention of the poem itself, transforming a metaphorical and emotional burden into a physical (almost tangible) one. Again, there is a presumption of death on the speaker’s part – MacCaig focuses on this most difficult aspect of the work of a nurse, adding to the suggestion of the poetic narrative that the speaker is visiting someone for what may be the last time. Also of note is the repetition of the word ‘so’, which is continued on line eighteen and places an emphasis on the overwhelming frequency of the nurse’s interactions with death

Question 19

“Their slender waists carrying their burden
of so much pain, so
many deaths”

Answer 19

MacCaig’s use of alliteration (technically, sibilance) forces the reader to slow down, which seems to increase the emotional and psychological weight of what is being conveyed. Readers may also interpret the speaker’s mention of the nurses’ figures as being another attempt to distract himself from the reality of the situation, although the fact that the text immediately reverts to considering the difficulties of dealing with death suggests that, just as with earlier attempts, the speaker fails to really distance himself from the reason behind his visit.

Question 20

“Their eyes still clear after so many farewells”

Answer 20

“their eyes…farewells” – The speaker seems to offer this image as a contrast to his own situation and emotional state; unlike the nurses, his eyes are not clear, yet he is dealing with just a single farewell. The recognition of the nurses’ strength seems to be an acknowledgement of the speaker’s weakness.

Question 21

Line 19: “Ward 7”

Answer 21

A numeral, rather than the word ‘seven’, is used to enhance the image of the sign at the entrance of the ward, and the delivery as a sudden statement (not even a sentence) suggests the emotional and potentially even physical impact of reaching the turning point of both the visit and the poem itself. From this point on the speaker must confront his feelings and the reality of the situation. That the speaker experiences such an impact from his arrival at the door of the ward seems to suggest an awareness that this may be his last visit, thus leaving us with the impression that the woman’s death is imminent. The full-stop forces us to do the same thing as the speaker – pause, take a breath, but eventually (inevitably) go on, and MacCaig’s use of line division (ie. not placing ‘Ward 7.; in a line of its own) confirms this.

Question 22

“She lies in a white cave of forgetfulness.”

Answer 22

Here, MacCaig makes use of metaphorical imagery to portray the condition of the woman in her hospital bed. The literal meaning of this is most likely to do with the fact that the room in which the patient is lying is white, and her vision is so poor (due to her illness, or her medication, or both) that she is unable to make out any detail, making the ward appear as an all-encompassing blur of white. Normally, it would be the darkness within a cave that would prevent someone from seeing, but here the patient is surrounded by white light (a further reference to the persistent idea of death running throughout the text). The ‘white cave’ can certainly be seen as a representation of a world, and a life, fading away, and the use of the word ‘forgetfulness’ effectively evokes the idea of imminent death whilst also relating to the patient’s age and deteriorating condition.

Question 23

“A withered hand trembles on its stalk”

Answer 23

This delicate image effectively portrays the frailty of the patient, her hand being abstractly compared to a dying leaf about to fall to the ground, or the final petal dropping from a dying flower. This is made all the more significant by the fact that ‘Visiting Hour’ is, in essence, a love poem – if the flower is the traditional poetic symbol of romantic love, then a “withered” one “trembling on its stalk” would seem to be an appropriate metaphor for the death of the speaker’s partner. This then reinforces what we, as readers, already know – that the bond between patient and visitor is one deep and loving enough to make the prospect of life without it difficult, if not almost impossible, to face.

Question 24

“Eyes move behind eyelids too heavy to raise.”

Answer 24

– Here it is made clear that the woman is still alive, whilst also suggesting that she is very close to death. Eyes moving behind eyelids would usually represent R.E.M. (dreaming) sleep, but the addition of the woman’s inability to move her ‘heavy’ eyelids increases our impression of her weakness and the inevitability of her death. Her eyelids may be “too heavy to raise” because of illness, age or medication, but regardless, the message is clear: she is not quite gone, but nor is she able to communicate with ‘our’ world.

Question 25

“Wasted of colour”

Answer 25

“wasted of colour” – The word ‘wasted’ emphasises the idea of death and, in particular, decay – “lacking in colour” would create the same visual image, but could not convey the fact that the speaker has had to experience a heart-breaking decline in the health of the patient. This helps to enhance our understanding of the distress felt by the speaker.

Question 26

“Glass fang is fixed not guzzling but giving”

Answer 26

“glass fang…giving.” – MacCaig’s word choice reinforces the idea that the patient is hovering between life and death. The use of “fang” and “guzzling” make the reader think of vampires, which are neither living nor dead. Once again we encounter the speaker’s unsteady psychological state – where previously we found presumptions of death in situations which were neutral (Lines 5-7), here the speaker momentarily interprets an intravenous drip designed to keep his loved one alive as something hastening her death.

Question 27

“distance shrinks till there is none left”

Answer 27

“distance shrinks…none left” – Here, the speaker is walking across the ward towards to woman in her bed, but MacCaig’s choice of the words “distance shrinks” to portray this seems to suggest that this distance between the two is much greater than it can possibly be in reality. Of course, the effect of this is to emphasise the increasing emotional difficulty of the visit – his task gets harder and harder the closer he gets to completing it.

Question 28

“but the distance of pain that neither she nor i can cross”

Answer 28

“but the…can cross” – Their mutual inability to cross the ‘distance of pain’ shows that the experience is two-way; her pain is the physical pain of her death, whilst his is the emotional and psychological pain of losing someone he clearly loves. The speaker’s distress here is clear – he is physically touching the patient, and yet is unable to communicate with her at all.

Question 29

“black figure in her white cave”

Answer 29

Line 32: “black figure…cave” – Here, MacCaig revisits the image of the woman’s ‘white cave of forgetfulness’, this time inserting the speaker as little more than a silhouette in the patient’s lonely world. This image enhances the idea that the patient is close to death – all detail of her world has faded (creating the ‘white cave’) and now her ability to discern one individual from another has been lost, even if that individual is someone important to her. Whilst she does “smile a little” at his presence, this appears to be in response to having any visitor (indeed any detail at all), and does not necessarily reflect an ability to determine who this visitor is. It is, however, worth noting that, unlike the doctors, the visitor would probably not be wearing white.

Question 30

“black figure”

Answer 30

The speaker’s reference to himself as a “black figure” also further emphasises the focus on death which runs throughout the text. In mythology, the Grim Reaper is a ‘black figure’ and the very personification of death. This word choice may refer to the speaker’s belief that he will be the last person to see the patient alive, and that his leaving at the end of visiting hour will be, in effect, sealing her death. This has important implications for our interpretation of word choice in lines 33-36

Question 31

“clumsily”

Answer 31

The world ‘clumsily’ effectively portrays the physical difficulty of the speaker’s situation – as his emotions are overwhelmed by the prospect of facing life without the patient, his body is inevitably affected also. The focus upon the bell continues previous examples of non-physical influences having tangible effects upon the speaker

Question 32

‘round swimming waves of a bell”

Answer 32

the ‘round swimming waves’ are, in fact, the sound waves of the bell being rung to mark the end of visiting hour. If we accept this to be his final visit, then the speaker’s physical reaction to this is understandable. Furthermore, readers may interpret this portrayal as also giving the impression of time being slowed down for the speaker, as he feels the wave produced by every strike of the hammer on the ward bell.

Question 33

“growing fainter not smaller”

Answer 33

“growing…smaller” – As the speaker moves away from the woman, he is portrayed as fading out of what little of her life remains, enhancing the poetic suggestions of her impending death. MacCaig’s word choice here reinforces the idea that this is, indeed, a final visit – as he fades out of her world (the “white cave”) so too the patient fades away from ours.

Question 34

“leaving behind only books that will not be read and fruitless fruits

Answer 34

The taking of books (or magazines) and food to those in hospital is a cultural practice which should be familiar to all readers, but questions are clearly raised here as to how much of this convention is driven by a desire to make the process easier for the visitor rather than the patient. That the books will not be read and the fruit not eaten suggests that the speaker has known from the start The unread books and ‘fruitless’ fruits do not necessarily suggest that the visit itself was pointless, but rather that the speaker’s attempts to avoid the full force of his emotions throughout were a waste of time (confirming something which the reader is already fully aware of). Despite his best efforts, the speaker has not gained what he intended from this visit.

Question 35

Vanishes - connotations

religious imagery

Answer 35

Connotations of magic and disappearing forever suggest there is no after life and for him death is final
“Vanishes heavenward”

Question 36

What does the personal pronouns “her/me/she/i” show

Answer 36

Indicates they are both suffering but in different ways.

Patient suffers physically and the poet emotionally

Question 37

loss

Answer 37

Loss is a universal experience which has a profound effect on the individual