of the patients that they treat is also touched upon in this stanza “so much pain” and “so
many deaths”.
Verse five is when he reaches his destination. A sense of purity and emptiness is
created by use of the word “white”. The patient is obviously in some kind of discomfort and
is struggling to stay alive “eyelids too heavy to raise” and “trembles on its stalk”. The lady,
seems to me to be in her final hours “distance shrinks” and “none left” indicate the prescence
of fading and emptiness.
Stanza six is the final stanza of the poem. The patient seems to be gradually fading
away into nothing “growing fainter”. The contrast between “black” and “white” are used to
show death and purity and emptiness.
Norman MacCaig uses many different techniques successfully to convey his emotions
strongly.
The title of the poem in itsself is significant. Right away the time and place is set:
visiting time in a hospital. In addition to this, as I see it, it also reflects a restriction on the
amount of time he can spend with his loved one.
In the first verse “the hospital smell” tells us that this hospital is like every other and
has indeed the scent of a hospital. “Hospital” confirms out initial inkling that the poem was
set in a hospital. Also, the word “smell” and “nostrils” are linked not only because they are a
peice of the same part of the body, but because they tie in the word combs ith the rest of the
sentence. “Combs” suggests overwhelm-ment, and because it is linked to “nostrils” which in
turn is linked to “hospital smell” could be seen to show that the smell of the hosptital is
overwhlming. “As they go bobbing along” the “bobbing along” part of this sentence would
suggest that the “nostrils” are a ifferent part of the anatomy, that they move independently,
and not with the rest of the human body. All of this helps to concrete in the setting and the
effects of the hospital, making the reader feel every bit a part of MacCaig’s journey. “Green
and yellow corridors” the colours ould be seen to represnt the disgusting image of puss and
septicness, or on a lighter note, they could mirror the outdoors. These institutional colours
could be seen to represent the green of the grass and the yellow of the sun, both of which
the patients do not get to see very often.
“I will not feel, I will not feel”. This sentence uses repitition to emphasise that the
writer does not want to, or is not ready to take on board what lies ahead of him. In addition
to this, the word not creates negativity, which all adds to the negative, dark image this poem
creates. Furthermore the word “I” gives added intimacy between the writer and reader,
making things seem on a personal level. “Until I have to” shows that the writer knows that
his meeting is inevitable, but nevertheless does not want to meet it head on, he is in denial.
This verse is dedicated to the nurses and the job that they do. “Lightly and swiftly”
give the impression of efficiency and delicacy. Perhaps delicacy because of the delicate
nature of the job that they do, both in the sense of helping the patients and their families.
“Here and up and down and there” is an example of the writer using inversion. Inversion
emphasises the hecticness of the nurses job and mixing up the letters parallels with the many
different directions the nurses tavel in during the course of the day. The use of the word
“miraculously” envokes the thought of an amazing feat being performed, when in actuall fact
what seems amazing comes naturally to the nurses in their day to day running of the hospital.
“So much pain, so many deaths” this quote shows what the nurses have to deal with whilst
doing their job. This adds to the amazement of how the nurses can do their job so well,
considering all of the pain and the hecticness.
An example of caesura that the writer uses is “Ward 7.” The writer halts the poetic
flow to give a sharp stop, letting the reader of the poem know that he has arrived at his
destination, symbolising his cessation in movement. “A white cave of forgetfulness” this
symbolises the blankness of her mind. And also the word “cave” suggests isolation, if you
imagine a cave in a cliff face, there is no easy way out, making her seem isolated, like a
hermit. The image of a dying flower is given by “a withered hand trembles on its stalk”. The
flower image is effective because flowers are delicate and so is the lady. The metaphor of
“a glass fang” is very well used. One reason is because of its shape, it is shaped like a fang,
the other is that blood is passing through it. This is good because it presents all of these
images in two words. The impression that the patient is fading is also given by the words
“distance shrinks”
The contrast in “black” and “white” both show an abscence of colour and life. Black
is mostly ascociated with death and white is associated with purity, perhaps in death.
“Swimming waves” gives the image of drowning and water. “Dizzily” and “growing fainter”
both work together to give the impression of fading away.
Through reading this poem I have learned a lot about death and dying, it has certainly shown
me that life has not to be taken for granted and that coping with death I very difficult for
some people. Some parts of the poem helped me to understand the theme of deathand
dying, for example verse two was very harsh and the brutal use of language was a wake up
call. I consider this poem to be a very good portrayal of Norman MacCaig’s emotions at
the time he encounetered this loss and I felt deeply sorry for him.
