visiting hour Flashcards
“the hospital smell combs”
MacCaig appeals to our sense of smell as he describes the hospital. This is evocative bringing to mind the pervasive smells with which we associate hospitals
the metaphor comparing the smell travelling through the air to a comb, helps to underline it’s strength.
“my nostrils as they go bobbing along”
this is a technique used to allude to a part of something to refer to the whole. The smell is overpowering and the hospital smell is blocking all other senses.
‘bobbing’ has pleasant connotations as though he is trying to trick himself into thinking the experience won’t be as bad as he had anticipated.
“vanished heavenward”
the rising lift becomes symbolic of the journey to heaven.
the metaphor shows how the patient journey is inevitability of death.
‘heavenward’ emphasises and isolates this word and reinforces the finality and finality of death.
“I will not feel”
the repetition is testament to the speakers determination not to allow his emotion to overpower him and this shows the visitors fear of being overwhelmed.
the use of enjambment especially emphasises the word ‘feel’ and clearly conveys how desperately the speaker would like to remain numb.
“lightly” and “swiftly”
“here and up and down and there”
suggests an easy almost carefree quality to their movements. The word order suggests that they are constantly on the move the repetition of ‘and’ underlines this.
“so much pain”, so many deaths” and “ so many farewells”
emphasises the emotional strain of the nurses job and how there able to function so efficiently when surrounded by so much pain and suffering”
“white cave of forgetfulness”
this reveals the isolation and lack of any sensory awareness in he current state and also emphasises how distant she is now from the speaker.
“glass fang”
“not guzzling but giving”
the comparison of the intravenous drip to a vampire is shocking and shows how frightening the speaker finds the medical equipment attached to the patient.
nevertheless the harsh sound of the alliterative “g” conveys a sense of bitterness as the speaker feels the medication is both intrusive and ineffective.
“black figure in her white cave”
these contrasting colours show the different situations of the speaker and the patient. ‘black’ is bold and stands out starkly against the white surroundings.
“the round swimming waves of a bell”
the poet technique of synaesthesia where one sense in this case the sound bell is used to evoke another as the speaker imagines he can feel the sound surround him like water.
“fruitless fruits”
stands as a reminder of the proximity of death. neither the fruit nor the book will fulfil their intended purpose
