Visiting Hour Flashcards
“The hospital smell”
Technique: Simple, blunt language
Conveys that this is a familiar/recognisable smell that everyone associates with the hospital. It has become a universal experience.
“combs my nostrils”
Technique: Metaphor
Suggests that the smell is so potent that it separates the strands of hair in his nose. The odour assaults his
senses and overpowers him.
This shows how acutely/vividly he remembers his experience at the hospital, how impactful/important it was to him and his emotional state.
“as they go bobbing along”
Technique: Synecdoche (when a part stands for the whole.)/Humorous tone
Suggests the smell of the hospital is so potent that as he travels along the corridor, all his other senses are blocked out.
This ridiculous image, sparks a humorous tone which
suggests the poet is trying to distract himself from the
serious nature of the visit.
“bobbing”
Technique: word choice
Connotations: bouncing up and down, rising and falling, unsteadiness.
Hints at the poet’s disorientation in the hospital – he is going through the motions of the visit while trying to stay distanced to avoid thinking the worst of his relatives condition.
“green and yellow corridors.”
Technique: Word choice
Connotations: mucus, vomit, ilness, discomfort etc.
We sometimes say someone looks
green if they are sick.
This shows how unsteady the poet is feeling.
“What seems a corpse”
“seems”
Technique: Word choice
Connotations: being unsure/guessing at something.
This could suggest that the poet is making assumptions – death is on his mind so he assumes what he sees on the hospital bed is a dead body.
“What seems a corpse”
“corpse”
Technique: Word choice/Consonant sounds
Connotations: Death, lifeless, horror.
Highlights that death is commonplace in the hospital. This shows his sudden, harsh realisation of what could await him during his hospital visit.
The harsh consonant sounds ‘c’ and ‘p’ add to the feeling that this is a shocking sight for the speaker.
“What seems a corpse
is trundled into a life and vanishes
heavenward”
“trundled”
Technique: Word Choice
Connotations: moving something heavy and awkward, often without much grace of care, forcefully pushed or shoved.
Suggests that the trolley is manoeuvred into the lift as if it were a nuisance, just another job to be done. This could imply that people have become immune to death in the hospital.
“What seems a corpse
is trundled into a lift and vanishes
heavenward.”
“vanishes heavenward”
Technique: Metaphor/Enfambment
“vanishes”
Connotations: a sudden or permanent disappearance, shocking, unbelievable.
“heavenward”
Enjambment is used to emphasise this word, which ends up in a line of its own.
Both words reinforce the idea of the finality
and irreversibility of death.
The body going up in the lift is compared to a soul going up to heaven. This dark image reveals the poet’s fears about his losing his loved one as death is clearly on his mind.
“heavenward’ could be broken down to ‘heaven’ and ‘ward’ to suggest the ward the patient is being transferred to is one where the patients are sent when they are likely to die. This again implies that death is a part of the hospital environment.
“I will not feel, I will not
feel, until
I have to.”
“I will not feel, I will not
feel,”
Technique: Repetition
This reveals that poet is trying to keep his
emotions under control as he draws closer to the
ward. He is steeling himself, trying not to break
down. The repeated words become almost like a
mantra or chant designed to keep his emotions in
check.
“I will not feel, I will not
feel, until
I have to.”
“until
I have to”
Technique: Enjambment
Emphasises the final words of the stanza “I have to” which end up in a line of their own. This reveals that as much as the speaker is trying to keep his emotions in check, deep down he is aware that eventually they will
get the better of him.
Ultimately, he will not be
able to avoid ‘feeling’ forever and will have to
give in to his grief; it is inevitable.
“Nurses walk lightly, swiftly”
Technique: Consonance (the repetition of
consonant sounds in more than one
word)
This emphasises the fast, efficient pace of the nurses as they walk along the wards – a crisp, sharp sound is repeated.
“here and up and down and there”
Technique: Unusual syntax (ordering of the
words in the sentence)
Links to the busy nature of the hospital with nurses rushed off their feet. The ‘disordered’ nature of the line may be linked to the idea of him feeling things are not quite right/out of kilter. He feels disorientated and
overwhelmed.
“their slender waists miraculously
carrying their burden”
“slender waists miraculously”
Technique: Word Choice
“miraculously”
Connotations: admirable, awe striking, marvelous, surprisingly.
“slender”
Connotations: petite, fragile, attractive, graceful.
Suggests that MacCaig is in awe of the nurses ability to carry out such an intensive job despite their fragile appearance.
"carrying their burden of so much pain, so many deaths, their eyes still clear after so many farewells."
“so much…so many…so many”
Technique: Repetition
Emphasises the large amount of suffering the nurses bear witness to every day.
This again shows MacCaig’s admiration of them as he sees their strength in their ability to work so close to loss of human life. How can they remain so professional when they see a loss approaching or passing by?
“…, their eyes
still clear after
so many farewells”
“still clear”
Technique: Word Choice
Suggests no tears – perhaps they have they become somewhat immune to the grief around them?
“so many farewells”
Technique: Word choice
‘farewells’
Connotations: goodbye, loss.
By ending the stanza on this word it perhaps suggests that the poet is worried his visit could end up being a permanent goodbye to his relative. The reality of the situation is hitting home.
"Nurses walk lightly, swiftly, here and up and down and there, their slender waists miraculously carrying their burden of so much pain, so many deaths, their eyes still clear after so many farewells."
Technique: Enjambment
This is used throughout the stanza, forcing us to read the lines without stopping so we take in a lot of information at once. This helps us to imagine the busy nature of the hospital.
“Ward 7. She lies
in a white cave of forgetfulness.”
“Ward 7.”
Technique: Non-sentence/Caesura
Signals that MacCaig finally reaches his destination.
The use of caesura forces the reader to stop
abruptly just as the poet stops suddenly
to gather himself/prepare himself before
entering the ward.
“… She lies
in a white cave of forgetfulness”
Technique: Metaphor
Isolated hospital room is clinical and stark and
it/the white curtains around her bed are compared to a cave because they surround and hide her.
The curtains also isolate her from the rest of the hospital. She cannot communicate and is hidden from view.
“forgetfulness”
Technique: Word Choice
Connotations: unaware, unconscious, elsewhere, out of reach.
Suggests she is not even aware of his presence. The
experiences that connected them are lost to her now.
“A withered hand
trembles on its stalk…”
Technique: Metaphor
Her hand/arm is compared to a dying plant. This
suggests the life draining out of her/death approaching.
“withered”
Connotations: weak, frail, thin, decaying and lifeless.
“trembles”
Connotations of weakness, vulnerability, fear.
The woman is just a shadow of the person he knew.
“… . Eyes move
behind eyelids too heavy
to raise. …”
Technique: Impersonal description
It is like the eyes are moving independently of
the person. She is reduced to a body on a bed with no conscious thought or free will.
“eyelids too heavy to raise”
suggests a serious illness or heavy sedation. She is so ill that she cannot even communicate with him by looking at him.
They are unable to communicate with each other.
“… Into an arm wasted
of colour a glass fang is fixed,
not guzzling but giving.”
Technique: Metaphor
The IV drip is compared to the fangs of a vampire or fierce animal. Both things are sharp and pierce the skin, but where a predator would ‘guzzle’’ greedily at it’s prey’s blood, the IV line is ‘giving’ potentially life saving drugs.
“fang”
Connotations: scary/unpleasant/disgusting/horrific.
This image betrays the poet’s fear and intimidation when surrounded by the scary medical equipment. He feels instinctively disgusted by the IV drip, even though he knows the IV drip is there to help her.
“…Into an arm wasted
of colour…”
Technique: Word Choice
“wasted of colour”
Connotations: get thin, weak, frail, loss of opportunity, very pale, lifeless, no energy.
These ambiguous connotations could either suggest the damage of her illness on her body.
Or it could suggest that the poet is thinking of all the chances to be with her that have been thrown away/will be if she doesn’t survive.
“not guzzling but giving.”
Technique: Alliteration
Used to draw attention to the phrase.
“And between her and me
distance shrinks till there is none left
but the distance…”
Technique: Repetition of ‘distance’
Emphasises the despair he feels at not being able to reach out to her. Physically they have never been closer as he is standing right next to her but emotionally they could not be further apart as her fragile physical state prevents them from communicating. Even before death they are
cut off from one another.
“but the distance of pain that neither she nor I
can cross.”
Technique: Metaphor
The distance created by her suffering is compared to a physical wall or barrier keeping them apart.
“She smiles a little at this
black figure in her white cave”
“She smiles a little”
Technique: Ambiguity
This confuses the reader with ambiguity.
It suggests that she is conscious and aware of his presence to some extent (contradictory to previous indicators).
She could still be unaware - just a physical reflex.
Or it could be his imagination/wishful thinking.
He may simply be anticipating how she would react to his clumsy behaviour if she were awake.
It is almost as if we are now seeing things/imagining things from the woman’s point of view.
“…at this
black figure in her white cave”
Technique: Contrast/Symbolism
The two colours are polar opposites, highlighting
how far apart they are. MacCaig can be seen as the “black figure”
“black” Connotations: depression, despair, death whereas, “white” Connotations: innocence, purity, peace.
We might expect her to be associated with“black” but maybe the poet is aware that he is now the one who is really suffering, having to watch her fade and fearing her death while she is at peace in her coma/drugged state.
Of course, the “black figure” could also be the lurking presence of death, waiting to carry her off.
“who clumsily rises
in the round swimming waves of a bell”
“clumsily”
Technique: Word Choice
Suggests his discomfort and awkwardness in the hospital.
“in the round swimming waves of a bell”
Technique: Synaesthesia (To describe one sense using another.)
A sound is being described in a visual way. The sound waves of the sudden bell being rung to signal the end of ‘visiting hour’ are compared to the waves in the sea.
The noise is jarring after the hush of the hospital room and catches him off guard like a wave sweeping someone off their feet.
“who clumsily rises
in the round swimming waves of a bell
and dizzily goes off…”
“and dizzily goes off”
Technique: Word choice
“dizzily”
Connotations: being unsteady, shaky.
This links to the earlier ideas of “clumsily” and “bobbing”.
“and dizzily goes off, growing fainter,
not smaller…”
Technique: Word Choice
She doesn’t see him leave but maybe senses his departure.
“fainter” could also suggest that not only is his presence in her room fading away but he is physically feeling “fainter” – emotionally and physically drained after the visit.
“…leaving behind only”
Technique: Ambiguity
Perhaps he is not just “leaving behind” the gifts but
also leaving her behind – this could be
their last goodbye.
“books that will not be read”
Description emphasises both the futility of leaving books for someone so very ill and the sense of a life coming to an end: all future possibilities are being cancelled out. All the things she might have done will now be abandoned.
“and fruitless fruits”
Technique: Oxymoron (When two adjacent words contradict each other.)
The fruit is “fruitless” – pointless because she
cannot eat it. By ending on this image the poet may
also be seeming to suggest that his visit too has been
“fruitless” – futile as his loved one was so ill that she was unaware of his presence.
“…leaving behind only books that will not be read
and fruitless fruits”
Technique: Tone
Poem ends on a sombre note. Visiting hour is over and he feels that his worst fears have been realised.