H English Visiting Hour quotes

‘Visiting Hour’ - Title

* Distance between patient and visitor, the former is clearly staying
* Hospital. Clinically assigned, restricted time. Temporary time together

Stanza 1

* ‘the hospital smell combs my nostrils’
* ‘my nostrils as they go bobbing along’
* green and yellow corridors’

‘the hospital smell combs my nostrils’

* Sensory imagery, commonly identifiable, chemical, separated from other smells - evocative stale smell mirrors lack of joy
* Metaphor: very thorough, deeply entrenched. Very uncomfortable, intense, invasive

‘my nostrils as they go bobbing along’

* Synecdoche - one part represents the whole
* trying to disassociate himself & focus on his senses
* ‘bobbing’ WC - Jarring humorous WC to try to distract himself

‘green and yellow corridors’

green and yellow have connotations of sickness

Stanza 2 quotes

* ‘What seems a corpse’
* ‘vanishes/heavenward.’

‘What seems a corpse’

‘seems’ WC - shows his uncertainty as he is uncomfortable. Assumes the person is dead.

‘vanishes/heavenward’

* Metaphor
* Rising lift becomes symbolic of the journey to heaven. The comparison of this serves as a reminder of the inevitability of death
* Use of enjambment to isolate the final word ‘heavenward’ emphasises and reinforces the finality and isolation of death

Stanza 3 quote

‘I will not feel, I will not/feel, until/I have to.’

‘I will not feel, I will not/feel, until/I have to.’

* Triadic structure - emphasises the inevitability of him being forced to feel
* Repetition - Speaker’s determination to not allow his emotions to overpower him.
* Speaker’s fear of being overwhelmed. He worries he will break down, unable to cope with the painful reality of the situation

Stanza 4 quotes

* ‘lightly, swiftly’
* ‘here and up and down and there’
* ‘slender waists miraculously carrying their burden’
* ‘so much pain, so/many deaths’ and ‘so many farewells’
* ‘their eyes still clear’

‘lightly/swiftly’

Sense of pace, efficiency, unnoticed, suggests effortless, easy, carefree quality to movements

‘here and up and down and there’

Suggests the nurses are constantly on the move, the repetition of ‘and’ underlines this

‘slender waists miraculously carrying their burden’

Speaker is surprised they can cope with such a difficult job when they seem so delicate, their ability to carry this heavy weight on such light frames. Whereas he is struggling to prevent his feelings from coming to the surface.

‘so much pain, so/many deaths’ and ‘so many farewells’

* Parallel structure emphasises the emotional strain of the nurses’ job.
* The speaker’s awe at how the nurses are able to function so efficiently when surrounded by so much pain and suffering
* For the speaker, death is something that is difficult to deal with, whereas for the nurses it is something they must confront every day

‘farewells’

* Links to next stanzas and reminds us of the main purpose of the speaker’s visit
* More positive connotations than goodbye. Connotations of saying goodbye to someone going on a journey. There is an implication that perhaps he will meet the woman again. Suggests a desire to believe in an afterlife

Stanza 5 quotes

* ‘Ward 7.’
* ‘white cave of forgetfulness’
* ‘A withered hand/trembles on its stalk.’
* ‘arm wasted of colour’
* ‘glass fang’ and ‘not guzzling but giving’
* ‘distance of pain’

‘Ward 7.’

* Minor sentence, caesura
* Use of caesura (a pause that breaks up a line of verse) in the opening of this stanza illustrates the immediate, inescapable simplicity of the situation
* We have followed speaker’s progress along the corridors of the hospital and this ward is his destination
* Short, minor sentence highlights significance and punctuates the stark reality of the situation he has been so desperate to avoid

‘white cave of forgetfulness’

* Metaphor
* Contrasts the coloured corridors of the hospital, revealing isolation and lack of any sensory awareness in her current state. Also emphasises how distant from the speaker she now is
* ‘forgetfulness’ WC - Highlights her mental deterioration as she is in critical condition

‘A withered hand/trembles on its stalk.’

* Metaphor
* The patient’s hand seems fragile as it is ‘withered’ and trembles’
* ‘By comparing her to a flower he shows how she used to be full of colour & life and was once vibrant, beautiful and delicate and all that is gone now
* ‘withered’ - drained of life, close to death
* By comparing her body to a dying flower he conveys how brittle and frail she has become
* Implicit hope here, just as flowers and plants die and go to seed, so too is there a possibility for regrowth & new life. Again, the speaker’s desire to believe in some kind of afterlife is revealed

‘its stalk’

* Use of pronoun ‘its’
* Dehumanizes the woman. Suggesting her body is merely an empty shell - the person she once was is gone
* This idea of hollowness and emptiness links back to cave imagery from earlier in stanza

‘arm wasted of colour’

Again colourless contrast to living world. Loss of opportunity/wasted potential

‘glass fang’ and ‘not guzzling but giving’

* Metaphor
* Sense of disapproval/distaste. Vampiric, parasitic, dangerous, threatening, shows the fear of the medical equipment attached to the patiend
* However, M’s initial impression of harm is superseded as he realises unlike a vampire’s fang which is designed to drain blood, the needle is ‘not guzzling but giving’
* Harsh ‘g’ sound conveys sense of bitterness, guttural, he feels the medication is both intrusive and ineffective

‘distance of pain’

* Metaphor
* Both shared emotional pain and her physical pain. They can’t communicate/connect, and don’t want to address the pain and so can’t cross the distance.
* Isolation of the ill/dying
* Barrier between life and death, isolation for both

Stanza 6 quotes

* ‘black figure in her white cave’
* ‘the round swimming waves of a bell’
* ‘swimming waves’
* ‘clumsily rises’ and ‘dizzily’
* ‘growing fainter, not smaller’
* ‘books that will not be read’
* ‘fruitless fruits’

‘black figure in her white cave’

Contrast of the figures. The visitor ‘black’ is bold and stands out against the white surrounding. The patient however, looks weak and insubstantial

‘the round swimming waves of a bell’

* Uses synaesthesia, where one sense evokes another, the sound of a bell marking the end of the VH
* Bell reminiscent of a death knell

‘swimming waves’

Could imply he is overwhelmed or drowning in his emotions as he recognises the bell’s significance

‘clumsily rises’ and ‘dizzily’

Sense of confusion and grief as he leaves the Ward.

‘growing fainter, not smaller’

As he leaves her vision grows fainter signalling she is dying soon

‘books that will not be read’

More to learn about the world, also her story is over, she’ll be forgotten, no one will read or remember

‘fruitless fruits’

* Oxymoron
* More to give/grow, conveying sense of wasted opportunities/potential and a final reluctant recognition of the hopelesness of the situation
* He recognises the pointlessness of gifts left for the patient. Neither the books of fruit will fulfil their intended purpose - they will remain unread and uneaten