Spin , “Visiting Hour” The poem “Visiting Hour” was written by the Scottish poet Norman MacCaig. In the poem, MacCaig shows the central idea is definitely loss and death. This central idea is obtained through the use of various techniques such as imagery, composition and narrative stance.
The poem is all about a check out MacCain makes to a perishing relative within a hospital. Over the poem, MacCaig gives his thoughts and feeling to how this individual fails to handle the situation. The poet also uses enjambment, metaphor and imagery at the outset of the composition when MacCaig hints at the central idea. Vanishes heavenward”, with the use of enjambment the poet person introduces the thought of death. The quotation comédie the concept of the death and exactly how MacCaig might not be able to converse with his family member again. With the use of a metaphor and symbolism, as the lift literally rises up, the feelings of depressive disorder associates the journey to heaven. The “corpse” symbolizes death. The person he is browsing could conveniently be a corpse. The poet is filled of pictures of fatality and sees the patient within a negative method. Though not really mentioning the term death, his mind instantly makes this assumption.
At this point the reader just presumes the central idea is death. Replication is used while the poet emphasises the central concern of his beloved but as well of his admiration of the nurses. “So many deaths¦. so many farewells” emphasises how “miraculous” the nurses appear to him and they are not overwhelmed by the feeling of grief unlike him. MacCaig uses structure as he first says the patient, “Ward 7. The lady lies”. The four word line instantly links the lady with the hospital. The non-sentence “Ward 7, draws awareness of the reality in the situation the poet is. In a white colored cave of forgetfulness”, though suggesting a white curtain around the pickup bed, it creates the impression of emptiness. The vivid shades of “green and yellow” are not present. This implies the person’s life moving away and a dread from MacCaig that they will not really remember him. A Metaphor is used once more as the poet acknowledges that while they can physically touch the patient, she is dying and he is in. “And between her and me length shrinks till there is not one left nevertheless the distance of pain that neither the girl nor I am able to cross”, he has moved into the hospital, found her ward and reached her bedside but simply cannot “touch” her.
The central idea is manufactured clear for the reader within the last stanza where the poet produces, “books the will not end up being read”. MacCaig notices the uselessness with the gifts brought for the person. The person’s inability to enjoy the fruit or read the literature reveals their lack of existence. In conclusion, the poet achieves the central idea of death and loss by the use of metaphor, imagery, enjambment and structure. By using all those techniques made the central idea is apparent.
