'Visiting Hour' by Norman MacCaig

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Holly McCormack

Visiting Hour

I have chosen to write about the poem ‘Visiting Hour’ by Norman MacCaig.  The poem is about a hospital visit to someone close to his heart.  The poet believes that the person, who incidentally is his wife, is going to die.  From the poem I can sense that Norman MacCaig is speaking through his emotions and by writing the poem he is aiming to release some of his emotional pain.

The poem had a profound impact on me.  I felt very empathetic towards him because I also feel that when someone close to me is about to die.  When both my Gran and Grandpa have been severely ill in hospital, I have feared the worst and saw myself being strong whilst in the company of others, but naturally breaking down into a sob of tears when alone.  When reading the poem I could clearly visualise going to visit someone in hospital and I started to cry as I read the poem more.  I feel that being strong for someone is very important in this poem and he shows this throughout.

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The poem was written is six paragraphs of which only two were long.  The first four paragraphs are about MacCaig building up to the visit t his wife and what he is thinking.  In paragraph three he says,

“I will not feel, “ by this he means he doesn’t want to show his emotions in front of his wife. I think that the poem was divided into two halves, the shorter first four paragraphs being one half and they longer two paragraphs being the second half.  In the second half, MacCaig writes about the visit itself.  I think he ...

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