Visiting hour- Stanza 4

Question 1

“lightly, swiftly”

Answer 1

.Connotations of delicate, gentle and efficient
.This suggests the carefree, gentle and delicate, almost angelic, nature of the nurses as they perform their roles around the hospital. It also highlights their speed and efficiency at which they complete their important role.

Question 2

“here and up and down and there”

Answer 2

.Unusual syntax
.This is effective as it suggests

Question 3

“slender waists”

Answer 3

.Connotations of
.This suggests

Question 4

“miraculously”

Answer 4

.Connotations of incomprehensible, amazement & bewilderment
.This suggests the angelic qualities of the nurses and the crucial and the amazing role they play to save lives every day. It also emphasises the astonishment and bewilderment of the speaker because he struggles to comprehend how they can perform this role so effortlessly every day amongst all the suffering and trauma they experience on a daily basis.

Question 5

“so…so”

Answer 5

.Repetition
.This is effective as it emphasises the extent of the troubles the nurses have to carry on their shoulders everyday. It also emphases the range of suffering they experience in their daily lives as they carry out their important jobs, and the emotional strain that it has on them.

Question 6

“farewells”

Answer 6

.Connotations of saying goodbye, death and the afterlife
.This suggests that the speaker’s focus in this poem is death, and implies the serious nature of his visit. It highlights that the speaker is aware that this most likely his last opportunity to say goodbye to the patient, and suggests his desire to believe in an afterlife.