Summary Of Visiting Hour By Norman Maccaaig

In the poem “Visiting Hour” by Norman MacCaig,

A seemingly normal event acquires deeper significance by the end of the poem. The event taking place in the poem is a visit to a hospital, and through the writer’s use of literary techniques the reader is made to understand how he is feeling and appreciate the themes of the poem. The poem begins with the writer making his way to the ward in which the dying woman, presumably his wife, lies “in a white cave of forgetfulness”. As well as being taken on the literal journey with the writer, we are made to feel how he is feeling as he reaches an understanding of death’s inevitability, and leaves the ward knowing he is helpless to do anything to prevent this woman from dying. The main themes of the

The writer further conveys his difficulty in containing his grief throughout the following verse, when he admires the nurses’ ability to cope with their own grief, “their slender waists miraculously/carrying their burden/of so much pain, their eyes/still clear after/so many farewells”. By telling the reader how the nurses are coping, MacCaig is actually ironically revealing that he is having difficulty trying to cope. His use of the word “miraculously” illustrates his admiration of the nurses – he believes their ability to cope with loss on such a regular basis remarkable, as he is having difficulty coming to terms with the fact that he is going to lose just one person. We know from this description that the nurses have come to accept death and its inevitability. However, MacCaig has not yet reached this acceptance. This also explores the theme of isolation; MacCaig is isolated from the nurses due to his lack of acceptance. The following verse begins with a short, simple sentence: ”Ward 7”. This is used to show what the writer sees (the sign outside the ward), and the full stop is used to show that this is where the writer stops walking through the hospital, as he has reached his destination. Following this, imagery is used, “She lies/in a white cave of forgetfulness”, suggesting that the woman is isolated from her surroundings and unreachable to the writer, and is perhaps having trouble with her memory. A metaphor is then used to describe the woman’s movements, “A withered hand/trembles on its stalk”. This suggests that the woman’s body is very weak, like a dying flower, and also conveys the writer’s love for her – he believes she is beautiful, like a delicate flower. The theme of isolation is explored in an effective way when the writer speaks of a distance of pain “neither she nor (he) can cross”. The word “nor” isolates the words “she”