Visting Hour: Stanza 2-3

Visting Hour: Stanza 2-3

‘Visiting Hour’: Stanza 2-3

Tone and Mood

• The tone takes on a bleaker, more solemn hue, reinforcing the weight of witnessing a loved one’s suffering.
• A gentle sense of restraint and measured intensity is maintained, capturing the speaker’s attempt to control their emotions.

Imagery

• MacCaig employs the powerful metaphor of a “ward full of patients” resembling a “corpse”, creating an image filled with hopelessness and mortality.
• The poet introduces the symbol of a “domino of pain”, encapsulating the interconnectedness and collective nature of human suferring.

Speaker’s Perspective

• The speaker’s momentum slows down considerably, weaving a narrative of anticipatory anxiety and the weight of the impending visit.
• Personal experience is mirrored in the general atmosphere of the hospital ward, constructing a layered portrayal of pain and powerlessness.

Language

• The repetition of “I will” underlines the speaker’s resolute determination to face their fear. -Sensory impressions, as in “soothing as a hand”, create an immersive, yet unsettling aura, underscoring the poem’s emotional depth.

Themes

• Themes of endurance and individual struggle against adversity are core elements in these stanzas.
• MacCaig’s poignant depiction of the universal human experience of grief and loss emerges distinctly.

Summary

• In the second and third stanzas of ‘Visiting Hour’, the individual’s struggle to confront and endure personal loss is brought to the forefront. The poet’s deftly woven narrative, coloured with profound imagery and an undercurrent of intense emotional struggle, further delves into the themes of mortality and resilience. MacCaig masterfully ensures that the stanzas resonate with raw, human experience.