Long Distance II

Poem by Tony Harrison deals with bereavement love after death showing the lengthy journey of grief and the transcendental nature of .

Image of Time

Image of Time

• Time is used as a motive through the poem.

• Harrison alludes to love transcend time those grieving fail to let go of the physical reminders of their past loved ones.

‘Though my mother …’

was already two years dead

‘Though my mother was already two years dead/’

• Structure puts emphasis on the time since her death, suggesting that the speakers father should’ve moved on. Developed using the adverb ‘already’

• Enjambment physically separates the position of the father and the mother mirroring their physical distance

‘Dad kept …. hot water bottles by the side of her bed’

her slippers warming by the gas

‘Dad kept her slippers warming by the gas…’

• Thoughtful gestures presented through the visual imagery of domestic tasks. Show the father’s still passionate love for the mother.

• Imagery of warmth and heat → passion/ preserving her life force.

• Pathos

dead : bed

• Highlights the emptiness

• Links the two sentences which reinforce denial

‘ He’d put you off an hour …./ to clear way her things….’

to give him time

and look alone

‘He’d put you of an hour to give him time/ to put away her things and look alone’

• Imagery of time.

• Verb ‘look’ implies putting on a charade suggesting he still feels her prescence showing the strength of their love.

• Pathos

‘as though his still raw love were such a crime’

• Metaphor - raw wound, unhealed like his grief.

• Noun ‘crime’ suggests external judgment.

‘ though sure that very …./ scraped …… his grief.’

soon he’d hear her key

in the rusted lock and end

‘though sure that very soon he’d hear her key / scraped in the rusted lock and end his grief.’

• His persistent belief in the impossible

• Adjective ‘rusted’ implies abandoned state.

• Enjambment emphasis the hope (hear her key) versus the reality (rusted lock)

‘I believe ….’

life ends with death, and that is all

‘I believe that life ends with death, and that is all’

• Blunt absolute statement, acceptance.

• Caesura suggest that this is not the case, continuation of death an afterlife. Reinforced by the rhyme between all and call.

‘ just the same/ ….there’s your name/ …’

in my new black leather phone book

and the disconnected number I still call.

‘just the same/ in my new black leather phone book there’s your name/ and the disconnected number I still call.’

• Revealing the truth of his denial.

• Adjective ‘new’ shows passing of time, it illustrates how he has gone through the deliberate action of transferring his parents numbers into the new phonebook. Understanding of his fathers denial.

• Noun ‘phone’ suggests a desire to stay connected

• Verb ‘disconnected’ separation and impossibility.

• Verb ‘call’ in present tense, he is holding on to the memory.

Rhyme Stanza 4

• Shift in regualar abab to abba

• Outer lines shield the inner lines, shielding himself from the reality.

Links

Love after Love ( mourning love )

Arundel Tomb ( eternal love )

Warming her pearls ( longing )

Dusting the phone ( denial )

A Broken appointment ( emotional, denial )