Visiting Hour Annotations Flashcards
the hospital smell combs my nostrils
imagery
Personification – smell overpowers his senses
Combs – discomfort as the smell invades his sense
theme
Hospital – shows clear setting connotation of life and death
bobbing along
sound Assonance
to emphasise he feels adrift, lost (in the hospital and without his friend/relative)
word choice
Bobbing – shows that he is adrift, unsure of the direction
Green and yellow corridors
word choice
Connotations of sickness stressed his discomfort of the surroundings
what seems a corpse
metaphor
patient appears dead, poet cannot believe it is still alive
word choice
What – like it is no longer human and cannot tell age/sex
Corpse – continues negative tone suggesting there is little relation to life and the finality of death
`trundled
Moves slowly past, not in a hurry
Juxtaposes the word “corpse”
vanishes
Will never be seen again/death
heavenward
enjambment
word on its own for emphasis
Literal: patient is being moved to the floor above
metaphorical
poet expects patient to die and go to heaven, making light of it
i will not feel, i will not feel, until i have to
Repetition
poets thoughts laid bare as if chanting under his breathe to not show emotion as he is clearly upset
Reader feels sympathy for poet
lightly, swiftly
Nurses glide purposefully and elegantly
here and up and down and there
Unusual syntax (word order) emphasises the number of nurses there are and have the ability of omnipresence (everywhere at once)
slender waists miraculously
word choice
Amazed that they can deal with death and suffering with such slight frames
Miraculously – admiration of nurses abilities, links with image of heavenward and omnipresence
of so much pain, so many deaths
repetition
stresses amount of times nurses have to deal with unpleasant things, which supports the respect (envy?) poet has for them
eyes still clear
Remain strong
Not crying
farewells
Euphemism
a word or phrase that makes a serious/ terrible event sound less harsh farewell – death
The purpose of his visit is to say goodbye
Will possibly meet again suggesting his desire to believe in the afterlife at such troubling times
ward 7. she lies
Non-sentence and caesura (sentence stopping part way through a line) is abrupt. Jolts the reader in the same way that the poet is affected
Turning point of poem as now MacCaig must face his emotions
in a white cave of forgetfulness
metaphor
the curtains and sheets are cave-like conveying her isolation
word choice
Forgetfulness – ambiguous the room shows no sign of previous patients or she is losing her memory or MacCaig wishes to forget the image
a withered hand trembles on its stalk
Metaphor
woman’s body is frail and brittle, by comparing it to a dying flower (stalk)
word choice
Withered – deteriorated state
Trembles – emphasises old age of the woman
Its – pronoun dehumanises woman, suggesting MacCaig does not see her as human but her body is merely as empty shell, while she is effectively dead
eyes move behind eyelids too heavy to raise
word choice
Emphasises how ill the woman is
Syntax if missed pronoun (her) emphasises that the woman does not seem truly human/alive to the poet
wasted
is wasting away
no longer used
a glass fang is fixed
Metaphor
suggesting the I.V. canula in arm is like a vampire draining her life-force. The horror of the image shows the poet is shocked and distressed
Alliteration
(“fang… fixed”) emphasises that the I.V. has to remain to support her life but MacCaig is horrified by it
guzzling but giving
Horror at “glass fang” image is continued by the word “guzzling”, but reversed by the word “giving”. The alliteration of the guttural “g” sound conveys the harshness of the poet’s feelings towards it – pointless and intrusive
Distance shrinks till there is none left
But the distance of pain that neither she nor I
Can cross
Metaphor
too painful to admit she is dying so neither talk about it
Sense of futility/ uselessness
Acknowledging her physical pain and his emotional pain
can cross
sound
Alliteration guttural “c” sound emphasises the unpleasant situation
Enjambment
emphasise that it is not possible for MacCaig to show his emotions
she smiles a little
Switched perspective – now from her P.O.V. and is comforted by visit from MacCaig. This helps MacCaig to cope
