Poetry

Visiting Hours

Summary of the poem:

• "Visiting Hour" describes a visit to a dying friend in a hospital.
• The speaker attempts to suppress his emotions but ultimately confronts the reality of mortality.

The inspiration for the poem:

• The poem reflects the poet's personal experience of visiting a hospital and facing the fear of illness and death.
• It also explores the themes of communication, helplessness, and the passage of time.

Form of the poem:

• The poem is written in the first person, as a stream of consciousness, allowing readers to experience the speaker's emotions.
• It is in free verse and the present tense, following the chronological order of the hospital visit.
• The poet employs enjambment and repetition to emphasise key ideas.

Summary of each stanza:

The poem is structured into six stanzas, each revealing different aspects of the speaker's experience:

Stanza 1: The speaker describes his journey through the hospital corridors, highlighting the sensory details such as the smell and colours of the hospital. The hospital's smell overwhelms him, and he tries to suppress his emotions, but the environment forces him to confront the harsh reality of the situation.

---

Poetry

Stanzas 2 and 3: The second stanza touches on mortality as the speaker observes a dead body being transported in a lift, symbolising the journey to heaven. The third stanza focuses on the speaker's inner struggle to control his emotions, with a repeated determination not to feel. It reveals his fear of breaking down in front of the patient.

Stanza 4: This stanza shifts the focus to the efficient nurses in the hospital who move swiftly and lightly despite the emotional burden of their job. The word choices emphasise the nurses' ability to handle pain, death, and farewells, contrasting with the speaker's struggle to remain composed.

Stanza 5: The speaker reaches the destination, Ward 7, and describes the patient's condition as a "white cave of forgetfulness." The patient's frailty and vulnerability are depicted, along with a sense of hope for potential regrowth and new life. The poem also dehumanises the patient, emphasising her emptiness.

Stanza 6: The final stanza describes the speaker's departure from the ward through the patient's perspective. Contrasting colors highlight the difference between the living and the dying. The sound of a bell marks the end of the visiting hour, signifying the finality of the visit. The speaker's emotional turmoil is conveyed through imagery of swimming waves and dizziness. The gifts left for the patient, books and fruit, are seen as futile, emphasizing the hopelessness of the situation.

Themes

Fear:

• Quote: "I will not feel, I will not feel."
• The speaker fears his inability to control his emotions in the face of illness and death

---

Poetry

Death and Inevitability:

• Quote: "the lift's contrition"
• The poem repeatedly alludes to death, symbolized by the journey of a body in a lift, emphasizing its inevitability.

Images

Hospital Smell:

• Quote: "The hospital smell combs my nostrils."
• The pervasive smell of the hospital grounds the speaker in the harsh reality of the situation, despite his attempts to suppress his emotions.

Glass Fang:

• Quote: "the glass fang"
• The comparison of the intravenous drip needle to a glass fang is a shocking image that conveys the speaker's fear and discomfort with medical equipment.

Style techniques

Enjambment:

• Quote: "I will not feel..."
• Enjambment is used to emphasize the word "feel", highlighting the speaker's struggle to remain numb.

Repetition:

• Quote: "so much pain, so many deaths, so many farewells"
• Repetition emphasises the emotional strain on the nurses and the pervasive theme of death in the poem.

---

Poetry

Language techniques

Metaphor:

• Quote: "the patient vanishes/heavenward"
• The metaphor compares the patient's journey in the lift to a soul's journey to heaven, emphasising the theme of mortality.

Synecdoche:

• Quote: "my nostrils/as they go bobbing along"
• Synecdoche is used to represent the speaker as a whole through his nostrils, emphasising the overpowering hospital smell.

Personal reflection:

1. How does the speaker's struggle to control his emotions during the hospital visit make you reflect on your own ability to cope with difficult and emotional situations?

2. In what ways does the poem's exploration of mortality and regret resonate with your own experiences and fears about the passage of time?

3. How does the poem's vivid imagery and symbolism change your perspective on the value of life and the importance of cherishing moments with loved ones?