Visiting Hour Flashcards
The hospital SMELL
COMBS MY NOSTRILS
- word choice of ‘COMBS’ has connotations of the
hospital being harsh and uncomfortable + unpleasant to
the nose to smell
as they go BOBBING along
- word choice of ‘BOBBING’ suggests the people floating
and feeling disconnected
GREEN and YELLOW corridors
- word choice of these colours has connotations of pus,
sick, urine + infection
What seems a CORPSE
- word choice of ‘CORPSE’ has connotations of suffering
and death - emphasising death is on the poets mind
is TRUNDLED into a lift
- word choice of ‘TRUNDLED’ has connotations of
carelessness/being rushed - (we don’t always treat death with the respect it
deserves)
and VANISHES
HEAVENWARD
- enjambement emphasises how someone can be gone
in just the blink of an eye
I WILL NOT FEEL, I WILL NOT
FEEL
- repetition emphasises his emotions (mantra)
- enjambement shows his hesitation
UNTIL
I HAVE TO.
- enjambement shows he’s trying to put it off
Nurses walk LIGHTLY, SWIFTLY
- word choice has connotations of soft and feminine
HERE AND UP AND DOWN AND THERE
- sentence structure becomes muddled + poet suggests
nurses have the capability to be helping everywhere
their SLENDER waists
- word choice of ‘SLENDER’ has connotations of
slim skinny or thin - suggesting the nurses fragile, delicate + petite
carrying their BURDEN
- juxtaposition contrasts with what they have to deal with
everyday emotional ‘BURDEN’ and physical appearance - word choice of ‘BURDEN’ has connotations of heavy +
difficult
SO much pain, SO
many deaths
- repetition of ‘SO’ emphasises the amount of ill people,
deaths + sadness the nurses, family’s + friends
have to go through
SO many farewells
- repetition of ‘SO’ suggests the poet feels respect,
grateful + amazed at what the nurses do - he feels inferior to the nurses since he can’t cope with
death + wishes he could
WARD 7.
- caesura in numerical form stands out and shows poet is
hesitating before going in doesn’t know what to expect
+ afraid
WHITE CAVE OF FORGETFULNESS
- metaphor comparing the curtain around the bed to the
woman being isolated - describing her pain + how she’s not connected to her
surroundings
A WITHERED HAND
TREMBLES ON IT’S STALK
- metaphor comparing the woman’s hand to a beautiful,
flower that is wilting + dying - describing how ill and frail she is
INTO AN ARM WASTED
OF COLOUR A GLASS FANG IS FIXED
- metaphor, the ‘FANG’ suggests the horror of the
situation comparing the needle to a vampires fang - alliteration emphasises the ‘F’ harsh sound + the
monster, machine needle
not GUZZLING but GIVING
- alliteration ‘GUZZLING’ shows the vampires need for
blood + ‘GIVING’ shows the poet realises that the
woman is actually getting something she needs
And between her and me
distance shrinks till there is NONE LEFT
BUT THE DISTANCE of pain that neither SHE NOR I
CAN CROSS.
- enjambement shows the mental distance + the physical
closeness between them
she smiles a little at this
BLACK FIGURE in her white cave
- shifts from first person to third person
- showing he disconnects himself
who CLUMSILY rises
- word choice of ‘CLUMSILY’ has connotations of not
being in control, stumbling + awkwardly
in the ROUND SWIMMING WAVES OF A BELL
- metaphor comparing himself + his emotions leaving at
visiting hour, feeling like a drowning man swimming to
shore - synesthesia as the sound described as ‘round’ takes
over + engulfs him, suggesting he can’t escape it
growing FAINTER
- pun (two meanings)
- the woman is fading away as the poet leaves the
hospital feeling faint
BOOKS THAT WILL NOT BE READ
- paradox (contradiction) the books don’t have a purpose
FRUITLESS FRUITS
- oxymoron, the fruit will rot as she isn’t able to eat it +
therefore has no purpose
