Transcript Norman MacCaig - Trinity High School

Norman MacCaig
S5 Poetry
Good Morning S5!
 In
today’s lesson we will…
 Practise
textual analysis.
 Study MacCaig’s poem ‘Visiting Hour’.
 Talk about word choice, sentence
structure, mood and atmosphere.
Visiting Hour
 Understanding
After reading through the poem, write down
what you think is happening in the poem.
 Themes
Do you notice any themes at this stage?
Stanza 1
 How
does the poet help us be there with
him, in our minds?
 What do the lines “The hospital
smell…bobbing along.” tell us about the
effect of the hospital smell on the poet?
 What are the connotations of the colours
green and yellow in this context?
Stanza 1
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The poet is making his way along the hospital corridor to
ward 7 where his seriously ill relative lies.
In stanza 1, the scene is set by reference to the poet’s
senses.
The ‘hospital smell’ is typical of most peoples experience
of hospitals.
The poet creates mood through his word choice –
“combs my nostrils.”
Suggests the smell is so pungent and unpleasant to him
that it reaches right up into his nose hairs.
“green…yellow” suggests colours of vomit, pus – again
emphasises his discomfort and unpleasantness of visit.
Stanza 1
 SYNECDOCHE
 Lines
2/3 “nostrils…bobbing along”
 Of course his whole body is moving along
the corridor – not just his nostrils.
 The synecdoche focuses attention on the
nostrils in order to strengthen the idea of
the hospital smell being so overpowering,
all other senses are blocked out.
Stanza 2
“What seems a corpse
is trundled into a lift and vanishes
heavenward.”
 What
do the words in bold tell you about
the poet’s mood at this point?
 What is the effect of enjambment?
Stanza 2
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We know what is on his mind as when he sees the
trolley, he immediately assumes it is a dead body.
“vanishes heavenward” – in fact goes up in a lift, but as
far as poet is concerned, its on its last journey.
He is clearly worried about his sick relative – has he
come too late?
Enjambment – the effect is to emphasise the last word of
the line (his thoughts of death and finality)
“Trundled” suggests the lack of care taken by the porter
– as if the poet thinks there is no point taking care as the
person is dead. Supports his feeling of hopelessness.
Stanza 3
 The
poet repeats the words “I will not feel.”
To whom do you think he may be saying
these words and why?
 How
does the repetition and rhythm add to
the overall effect of the verse?
 Explain
the last line of this stanza.
Stanza 3
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The poet appears to be talking to himself.
 The repetition intensifies the control he is trying
to impose on himself, denying his feelings as
they are too painful.
 Together with the staccato rhythm of this short
stanza with its monosyllabic words, the repetition
heightens the atmosphere of tension.
 The last line shows the poet making a conscious
effort to be detached – he knows he will have to
face up to the situation eventually, but not yet.
Stanza 4
 Comment
on the syntax (word order) of
the line “here and up and down and there.”
What effect does it achieve?
 What is the effect of the linking word
‘and’?
 What do these details tell us about the
poet’s attitude to the nurses?
 What does he reveal about himself in his
observations of the nurses?
Stanza 4
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This stanza gives the sense of bustle in a busy
hospital through the description of the nurses.
 Unusual syntax in line 12 highlights the
ubiquitous nature of the nurses, as if they are
everywhere at once.
 The repetition of “and” emphasises the distance
the nurses cover and gives an impression of the
speed they move at.
 There is a contrast in how the nurses and the
poet cope with death. “Burden” conveys the
extent of his anguish, yet the nurses are able to
deal with many deaths “their eyes clear”.
Stanza 5
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Comment on the effect of the full stop in “Ward
7.” Also, what is the effect of the use of the
numeral 7?
Find 3 examples of metaphor in this stanza and
explain
the comparison being made,
how appropriate the image/metaphor is,
what is the effect it has/connotations?
Comment on the use of enjambment in lines 2930.
Stanza 5
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“She lies in a white cave of forgetfulness.”
The bed is screened off by a white curtain like a cave.
“Forgetfulness” because she is barely conscious.
It is appropriate because she is cut off from the rest of
the ward as effectively as if she were in a cave on the
side of a cliff. Due to the coma, she cannot
communicate with the poet, nor he with her.
Poet is immediately aware that she is not accessible to
him, or him to her. “White” adds to the feeling of
inaccessibility, as if he is seeing her through a white
haze or white noise – which impedes communication.
Stanza 5
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“A withered hand/trembles on its stalk,”
“Withered” is appropriate as she is dying and “stalk”
suggests the weakness and thinness of her arm
The trembling hand and eyes moving behind eyelids are
her fluttering uncontrolled attempts to reach him, so he
too, is alone with his pain.
The enjambment emphasises the heaviness of the
patient’s eyelids and the effort she is making to open
them, to communicate with him.
The flower image gives a sense of fragility and her
beauty in the eyes of the poet who looks at her with love.
Stanza 5
“Into an arm wasted/of colour a glass fang is
fixed/not guzzling but giving.”
 Vampire image intensified by alliteration conveys his
abhorrence at the sight of the drip feeding blood into her
arm.
 He sees the needle as a fang biting into her arm, like a
vampire drinking her blood.
 “wasted of colour” adds to impression that blood is being
taken rather than given.
 Effectively conveys his pity for the suffering of the
patient, his distress and the feeling that the whole
process is pointless and intrusive.
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Stanza 5
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“And between her and me/distance/that
neither she nor I/can cross.”
He bends to kiss her but she doesn’t respond.
She is alone with her pain which has formed an
invisible barrier between them.
The image conveys his feeling of desolation and
hopelessness at the inability to reach her.
His isolation is emphasised by the enjambment
– “I” poised at the end of the line.
Stanza 6
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How has the poet changed from the way he was
at the beginning of the poem?
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Comment on the effectiveness of:
The metaphor in line 34
Pun in line 35
Paradox in line 37
Oxymoron in line 38 and
Alliteration in line 38.
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Stanza 6
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When the bell rings at the end of visiting hour,
he leaves in a highly emotional state.
 Metaphor – “clumsily rises/in the round
swimming waves of a bell.” he escapes from his
distress like a drowning man to dry land.
 His self control has collapsed as he now
stumbles “clumsily” from the ward.
 “swimming” could suggest his eyes filled with
tears, as well as his head swimming with the
emotion of the experience.
Stanza 6
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Pun “growing fainter” – the poet would grow fainter with
distance from the patient and he is so upset he feels
faint.
Paradox “Books that will not be read” and
Oxymoron “Fruitless fruits” intensify his distress and
confusion.
She is beyond his reach and he can do nothing for her.
She is past reading or eating. He has gone through the
motions of a visit but knows his presence has made no
difference to the final outcome.
Alliteration intensifies the futility of the situation.
Visiting Hour
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The themes of this poem are facing death (both of the
patient and the loss of a loved one), inexorability of
death (it is impossible to stop) and problems of
communication.
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It is written in FREE VERSE – appropriate to confusion
in poet’s mind.
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It is written in the FIRST PERSON – poet can express
his feelings from the inside, which an observer would be
unable to detect. We see his feelings as genuine.
Visiting Hour
 STREAM
OF CONSCIOUSNESS style
makes us sympathise with the poet as we
can put ourselves in his position and
identify with his feelings.
 We arrive with him, walk through the
corridor with him and leave with him – this
increases the emotional impact of poem.
 We follow the build up and release of his
feelings.
Visiting Hour
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The overall structure contributes to the
atmosphere and mood.
Stanza 1-3 are short, staccato and create a
sense of place, atmosphere and the poet’s
feelings
Stanza 4 – sense of busy hospital
Stanza 5 – main action, sense of hush in the
presence of dying woman.
Stanza 6 – opening of floodgates of poet’s
emotions in face of his inevitable loss.
Visiting Hour
Evaluation
 Think about…
 Is it less of an ordeal for the dying person
than the one left behind?
 Dying is something we have to do alone,
despite being surrounded by loved ones?
 How realistic do you find the poet’s
feelings?