Visiting Hour

Question 1

What are the main themes of Visiting Hour?

Answer 1

Loss.
Suffering.
Isolation.
Painful experiences.

Question 2

S1 - “hospital smell combs”

Answer 2

Metaphor.
Appeals to our sense of smell.
Brings to mind pervasive smells with which we associate with hospitals - underlines strength of smell.
Odour assaults our sense of smell and is overwhelming.

Question 3

S1 - “bobbing”

Answer 3

Word choice.
Pleasant connotations as though he’s trying to trick himself into thinking experience wont be as bad as he anticipates - trying to be cheerful.

Question 4

S2 - “seems”

Answer 4

Word choice.

Suggests he doesn’t want to face the truth.

Question 5

S2 - “corpse”

Answer 5

Word choice.

Reminds us of death and mortality.

Question 6

S2 - “trundled into a lift and vanishes heavenward”

Answer 6

Metaphor - comparing lift’s journey with a journey of a soul to heaven.
Reminds us of inevitability of death.
Rising lift becomes symbolic of journey to heaven and might hint at speakers hope death is not end.

Question 7

S2 - “heavenward”

Answer 7

Word choice.

Emphasises and isolates word, reinforcing finality and isolation of death.

Question 8

S3 - “I will not feel, I will not feel”

Answer 8

Repetition - emphasises speakers determination not to allow emotions to overpower him.
Shows fear of being overwhelmed of breaking down.

Question 9

S3 - “feel”

Answer 9

Word choice.

Conveys how desperately speaker would like to remain numb.

Question 10

S4 - “burden”

Answer 10

Word choice.
Ability to carry emotional baggage - nurses astonish speaker who struggles to keep his feelings from coming to the surface.

Question 11

S4 - “So…so…so”

Answer 11

Repetition.
Emphasises emotional strain of nurses’ job.
Helps us understand speaker’s surprise at way nurses are able to function so effectively when surrounded by so much pain and suffering.

Question 12

S4 - “farewells”

Answer 12

Word choice.
Connotations of saying goodbye to someone going on a long journey.
Idea that you might meet someone again after a journey suggests poet might believe or wished he believed in an after life.

Question 13

S5 - Turning point for poem - Why?

Answer 13

Poet must confront reality of situation he has been so desperate to avoid.

Question 14

S5 - “she lies in a white cave of forgetfulness”

Answer 14

Metaphor - describes patient’s situation and reveals isolation and lack of sensory awareness in her current state.
Emphasises how distant she is now from speaker.

Question 15

S5 - “A withered hand trembles on its stalk”

Answer 15

Metaphor - comparing body to dying flower conveys how brittle and frail she is now, as well as hinting at her past vitality.

Question 16

S5 - “its”

Answer 16

Pronoun dehumanises woman suggesting her body is merely an empty shell and she is no longer alive.

Question 17

S6 - “black figure in her white cave”

Answer 17

Contrasts between the 2 figures.
Contrasting colours show different situations of speaker and patient.
Patient - looks weak and insubstantial.
Speaker/visitor - stands out starkly against surroundings.

Question 18

S6 - “clumsily” and “dizzily”

Answer 18

Adverbs reinforce sense of confusion and grief that describe his movements as he leaves.

Question 19

S6 - “swimming waves”

Answer 19

Implies he felt as though he is overwhelmed or drowning in his emotions.

Question 20

S6 - “growing fainter, not smaller”

Answer 20

Suggests own identity is less clear, less well-defined because of the loss of loved one.
Sense of self and understanding of world may be less sure.