visiting hour Flashcards
recite visiting hour
The hospital smell combs my nostrils as they go bobbing along green and yellow corridors. What seems a corpse is trundled into a lift and vanishes heavenward. I will not feel, I will not feel, until I have to. 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. Ward 7. She lies in a white cave of forgetfulness. A withered hand trembles on its stalk. Eyes move behind eyelids too heavy to raise. Into an arm wasted of colour a glass fang is fixed, not guzzling but giving. And between her and me distance shrinks till there is none left but the distance of pain that neither she nor I can cross. She smiles a little at this black figure in her white cave who clumsily rises in the round swimming waves of a bell and dizzily goes off, growing fainter, not smaller, leaving behind only books that will not be read and fruitless fruits.
what does the opening line of the poem “The hospital smell” mean?
Opening line of the poem “The hospital smell” is blunt and matter-of-fact defining the odour universal to all hospitals.
“combs my nostrils”
what is the meaning and the name of the technique used here to convey the meaning of this unusual line
Unusual imagery of “combs my nostrils” combines the senses of touch and smell to convey the pungent nature of the odour. It is so strong it is almost felt.
Just as a comb brushes through hair, the odour assaults our sense of smell and is overwhelming.
“bobbing” meanings
word choice of “bobbing” is designed to disguise his discomfort/shut out the unpleasant reality he is facing/
The disembodied nature of “nostrils/bobbing” indicates
how dislocated he feels at this point as he struggles to remain detached.
the technique used here is known as Synecdoche, this is a technique using part of something to refer to the whole. In this case, MacCaig uses his nostrils to refer to himself.
what do the colours “green” and “yellow” represent?
Reference to unpleasant colours “green/yellow” connote
sickness and echo his inner turmoil as he prepares to face the reality of his situation.
how does McCaig use the narrators senses as a way to force them to face reality?
Visiting a hospital is often a difficult experience and, despite the speaker’s intellectual attempt to avoid an emotional response, his senses force him to confront the reality of the situation.
“corpse” word choice meaning
Word choice of “corpse” hints at the seriousness of the patient’s position/his preoccupation with death. The impersonal terminology creates a darker etone, thus foreshadowing the inevitable
“vanishes” connotations
“Vanishes” has connotations of magic/make-believe/ disappearing forever suggesting that there is no afterlife and that, for him, death is final.
what is the religious interpretation of “vanishes heavenward”?
Religious imagery of “vanishes heavenward” introduces the hoped for final destination for those, unlike him, who believe in an afterlife. Ironic imitation of the “soul’s” final journey is an observation conveying his view that this visiting hour will not be about recovery.
link of “vanishes heavenward” to the lift?
The comparison of the lift’s journey with a journey of a soul to heaven serves as a reminder of the inevitability of death
what is the meaning behind the enjambment of “heavenward”?
The use of enjambment in the final line heavenward emphasises and isolates this word and reinforces the finality and isolation of death.
what is the point of the repetition of the line “i will not feel” as well as the lines after it?
The repetition of I will not feel is testament to the speaker’s determination not to allow his emotions to overpower him.
“I” repeated three times illustrates the intensely personal difficulty he is experiencing in keeping his anguish in check. Climax of “until I have to” shows his acknowledgement of his own avoidance.
The use of enjambment especially emphasises the word “feel” and clearly conveys how desperately the speaker would like to remain numb
what is the effect of the words “lightly, swiftly”?
“lightly, swiftly” create a sense of immediacy and a change to a lighter tone. They suggest the tactful/sensitive/ deliberate way in which the nurses work.
what does the sentence structure of “here and up and down and there” convey to us readers?
it shows us that just like the movement of the nurses are jumbled and messy so is the wording of the sentence since the saying is usually “up and down” and “here and there”. the repetition of the word “and” underlines this.
what is the reason for Norman McCaig commenting on the waists of the nurses?
Word choice of “slender waists” conveys their slight physical frames and sets up the contrast with the following expression - “miraculously … burden” - to
highlight the poet’s admiration for their dignified demeanour whilst working in this difficult environment whereas he is struggling to cope.
The speaker describes the nurses’ burden. A burden is a weight and their ability to carry this emotional baggage on such light frames is astonishing to the speaker. In contrast, he struggles to prevent his feelings from coming to the surface.
miraculously connotations
Word choice of “miraculously” has connotations of wonder and awe, suggesting he finds it inconceivable that the nurses could withstand so much emotional suffering.
word choice of ‘burden’ and ‘pain’ meaning
Word choice of “burden/pain” echoes the emotional and physical responsibilities of their job highlighting its exacting nature.
what does the structure of “so much pain, so/many deaths,” tell us?
emphasises the emotional strain of the nurses’ job.
what does the repetition of “so much/so many” tell us?
Repetition of “so much/so many” illustrates his observations that a large proportion of a nurse’s job is
dealing with death and the dying
Word choice of “clear” meaning
Word choice of “clear” shows their ability to remain
professional and not form deep emotional attachments to their dying patients.
“farewells” word choice meaning
“farewells” links to the next and reminds us of the main purpose of the speaker’s visit. This word has connotations of saying goodbye to someone embarking on a journey. While death is the final journey all of us must make, there is an implication that perhaps he will meet his friend again. This suggests his desire to believe in an afterlife.
how does Norman McCaig use the full stop in the quote “Ward 7.”
the line marks his arrival to his destination. it also marks a pause which conveys how he also stopped upon arriving at the ward, almost as if he was hesitating to go in.
“white cave of forgetfulness” meaning?
“white cave of forgetfulness” suggests that her reduced mental capacity offers her some protection/refuge
from the horrors of her situation OR diminishes her insight into her own situations/lessens her ability to communicate
This also reveals the isolation and lack of any sensory awareness in her current state. It also emphasises how distant from the speaker she now is.
What does McCaig compare the patient to and what effect does this have on us readers?
The patient’s hand seems fragile, MacCaig’s word choice detailing how it is withered and trembles.
By comparing her body to a dying flower he conveys how brittle and frail she has become, as well as hinting at her past vitality.
However, there is also an implicit hope here. Just as flowers and plants die and go to seed, so too there is the possibility for regrowth and new life. Again, the speaker’s desire to believe in some kind of afterlife is revealed.
The use of the pronoun its in its stalk instead of referring to her arm serves to dehumanise the woman. It suggests that her body is merely an empty shell - that the person she once was has gone.
“guzzling but giving” meaning?
The comparison of the intravenous drip to a vampire is shocking. It shows how frightening the speaker finds the medical equipment attached to the patient.
However, unlike a vampire’s fang which is designed to drain blood, this needle is not guzzling but giving.
Nevertheless, the harsh sound of the alliterative g conveys a sense of bitterness. The speaker feels the medication is both intrusive and ineffective.
The unconventional inverted vampire image “glass fang/
guzzling/giving” emphasises the reality that the patient is being kept alive medically as her body is decaying and death is imminent.
what does the repetition of the word “so” tell us about the nurses job?
Repetition of “so” emphasises the number of
unpleasant situations the nurses have to deal with.
“black figure in her white cave” meaning
These contrasting colours also show the different situations of the speaker and the patient. The visitor, black, is bold and stands out starkly against the white surroundings. The patient, on the other hand, looks weak and insubstantial.
another thing “Black figure” could relate to grim reaper - returning to the poet’s thoughts of death.
what does the word choice of “smiles a little” tell us about the patient?
Word choice of “smiles a little” indicates that the patient has, perhaps, accepted the reality of her situation/does have a sense of the caring nature of the visit
what does “the round swimming waves of a bell” tell us
the poet uses the technique of synaesthesia where one sense, in this case sight, is used to evoke another, the sound of the bell marking the end of visiting hour.
The imagery of the swimming waves could imply he is overwhelmed or drowning in his emotions as he recognises the bell’s significance.
“clumsily” and ‘dizzily” connotations
“clumsily”, “dizzily” “swimming waves”, all suggest poet is struggling with his emotions. This sense of confusion and grief is reinforced by the word choice of dizziness in the next line as he clumsily rises and makes his way out of the ward.
what does “fruitless fruits” and “books that will never be read” convey?
The final image of the books and the oxymoronic fruitless fruits stand as reminders of the proximity of death.
Neither the books nor the fruit will fulfil their intended purpose - the former will remain unread, the latter uneaten. These closing images offer a final reluctant recognition of the hopelessness of the situation.
Symbolic reference to “books that … read” creates a tone of futility/despair as the pleasure to be gained from reading will never be experienced again
