Analysis of Visiting Hour by Norman Maccaig
The poem "Visiting Hour" by Norman Maccaig is a very emotional one.
The poet helps you to understand the situation and his feelings by the
use imagery and word choice.
"Visiting Hour" is written in the first person as the poet himself is
going to hospital to visit a very close relative who is severiorly
unwell and is dying. The poet is having an emotional effect as he is
having different thoughts as the poem progresses. I think that the
poet is trying to contain his feelings by not expressing them freely.
The opening stanza begins with the metaphor "The hospital smell combs
my nostrils." This suggests that the poet is sensing that there is a
strong, disinfectant smell. The metaphor is unusual but very
effective. It almost suggests the poet is feeling a bit of pain and
sets the mood for the rest of the poem. The setting is partly
described with the phrase "green and yellow corridors." The colours
are usually associated with hospitals which makes his word choice more
effective.
The beginning of the second stanza also helps you to understand the
poets situation and his feelings. "What seems a corpse is trundled
into a lift and vanishes heavenward." The description describes a body
descending further and further away until it aboard the lift. It
suggests that the poet is thinking about the possibility of death and
thinking about life after death. I think that the poet has opted for
the word "heavenward" as it states that the poet is looking at life
after death.
The metaphor "I will not feel, until I have to" begins the third
stanza. This suggests that the poet is trying not to fe...
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...s stanza effectively convey the idea of the patient
being in a critical state.
The final stanza begins with the effective metaphor "She smiles a
little at this black figure in a white cave." It suggests that the
poet is feeling the odd one out. The poets situation is not helped
when he "clumsily rise in the round swimming waves of a bell." My
personal reaction would be that he would still be feeling empty
inside. The poet ends the poem by phrasing "leaving behind only books
that will not be read and fruitless fruits." This suggest that the
time for the patient has come and she is about to die.
Norman Maccaig has portrait himself in an emotional manner while on
his way to the hospital to visit a close relative. The use of imagery
and word choice has helped the reader to understand his situation and
his feelings.
Dealing with mental illness is difficult, but even worse when caring for a family member with a mental illness, creating the feeling of a lifetime of servitude. Bebe Moore Campbell uses flashback of slavery throughout the novel, 72 Hour Hold to explain how taking care of a family member with a mental illness can make one feel enslaved. Flashbacks throughout the novel are used to describe a mother’s, Keri, struggle of taking care of her bipolar daughter, Trina, while also insinuating that she feels her daughter’s illness has enslaved her. With the usage of slavery flashbacks author Bebe Moore Campbell creates a new reality, in which mental illness does not only affect the person suffering but also the people around them. The purpose of these flashbacks are not to just describe a minority, but to highlight the impact mental illness brings to the individual as well as the now indebted caretakers.
The vignette, Visiting Hours written by Judy Budnitz, is comprised of a binary inversion and an embedded allegory which is used to reveal the masked relationships within the family. In the narrative, the sibling duo evolves as the story progresses, eventually craving what the other sibling wanted in the first place. Thus, this results in a juxtaposition between the two subjects of desire.
Set in Nazi German, with the occasional interruption from the 1980’s Reagan Era, A Bright Room Called Day by Tony Kushner has more in common with 2016 America than one may first imagine. Political upheaval in the wake of a devastating economic crisis and the rise of an influential and charismatic leader certainly may resonate with many in America today, even as this may not have been what the play write had imagined having written this play in the 1980’s. The story follows the events of the 1930’s as Hitler gains ground in Germany, and a small, odd group of friends who work to do their part politically. While some succeed more than others at finding a voice among the chaos, others are left behind in the wake of the war.
The speaker started the poem by desiring the privilege of death through the use of similes, metaphors, and several other forms of language. As the events progress, the speaker gradually changes their mind because of the many complications that death evokes. The speaker is discontent because of human nature; the searching for something better, although there is none. The use of language throughout this poem emphasized these emotions, and allowed the reader the opportunity to understand what the speaker felt.
Therefore, Oliver’s incorporation of imagery, setting, and mood to control the perspective of her own poem, as well as to further build the contrast she establishes through the speaker, serves a critical role in creating the lesson of the work. Oliver’s poem essentially gives the poet an ultimatum; either he can go to the “cave behind all that / jubilation” (10-11) produced by a waterfall to “drip with despair” (14) without disturbing the world with his misery, or, instead, he can mimic the thrush who sings its poetry from a “green branch” (15) on which the “passing foil of the water” (16) gently brushes its feathers. The contrast between these two images is quite pronounced, and the intention of such description is to persuade the audience by setting their mood towards the two poets to match that of the speaker. The most apparent difference between these two depictions is the gracelessness of the first versus the gracefulness of the second. Within the poem’s content, the setting has been skillfully intertwined with both imagery and mood to create an understanding of the two poets, whose surroundings characterize them. The poet stands alone in a cave “to cry aloud for [his] / mistakes” while the thrush shares its beautiful and lovely music with the world (1-2). As such, the overall function of these three elements within the poem is to portray the
Overall, dwell on this process of changing throughout the poem, it can be understood that the poet is demonstrating a particular attitude towards life. Everyone declines and dies eventually, but it would be better to embrace an optimistic, opened mind than a pessimistic, giving-up attitude; face the approach of death unflinchingly, calmly.
In the first instance, death is portrayed as a “bear” (2) that reaches out seasonally. This is then followed by a man whom “ comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse / / to buy me…” This ever-changing persona that encapsulates death brings forth a curiosity about death and its presence in the living world. In the second stanza, “measles-pox” (6) is an illness used to portray death’s existence in a distinctive embodiment. This uncertainty creates the illusion of warmth and welcomenesss and is further demonstrated through the reproduction of death as an eminent figure. Further inspection allows the reader to understand death as a swift encounter. The quick imagery brought forth by words such as “snaps” and “shut” provoke a sense of startle in which the audience may dispel any idea of expectedness in death’s coming. This essential idea of apparent arrival transitions to a slower, foreseeable fate where one can imagine the enduring pain experienced “an iceberg between shoulder blades” (line 8). This shift characterizes the constant adaptation in appearance that death acquires. Moreover, the idea of warmth radiating from death’s presence reemerges with the introduction to a “cottage of darkness” (line 10), which to some may bring about a feeling of pleasantry and comfort. It is important to note that line 10 was the sole occurrence of a rhetorical question that the speaker
One must look at this poem and imagine what is like to live thru this experience of becoming so tired of expecting to die everyday on the battlefield, that one starts to welcome it in order to escape the anticipation. The effects of living day in and day out in such a manner creates a person who either has lost the fear of death or has become so frighten of how they once lived the compensate for it later by living a guarded life. The one who loses the fear for death ends up with this way of living in which they only feel alive when faced with death. The person in this poem is one who has lost their fear of death, and now thrives off coming close to it he expresses it when he states “Here is the adrenaline rush you crave, that inexorable flight, that insane puncture” (LL.6-7). What happens to this persona when he leaves the battlefield? He pushes the limit trying to come close to death to feel alive; until they push
In Kate Chopin's short story "The Story of an Hour," there is much irony. The first irony detected is in the way that Louise reacts to the news of the death of her husband, Brently Mallard. Before Louise's reaction is revealed, Chopin alludes to how the widow feels by describing the world according to her perception of it after the "horrible" news.
The school board plans to add one and a half hours to school each day. I disagree with this decision because it’s cutting into dinner time with families , our little siblings need help getting into the house, and it will cut our sleep time down for school in the morning .
Although marriage is considered a lifelong bond in “The Story of an Hour, Kate Chopin uses the open window to symbolize Louise’s new life to come. Throughout her life she secretly lived a mournful life. Louise had been fooled by her marriage life. In fact, only minutes after Josephine tells her about Brentley’s tragic death she reconsiders her previous feelings. Louise reconsidered her speculation of their marriage life and had second thoughts on how she felt about Brently, “And yet she loved him--sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! What could love, unsolved mystery, count for in the face of possession of self-assertion, which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of being her” (Chopin 2). Regardless of the fact that
The poet uses examples of imagery in this poem. The poet uses a simile in the first line of the first stanza to start off the poem. The simile she uses is ''the skin cracks like a pod''. The opening of the poem gives a clear message that something is severely wrong. A pod cracks with barely any resistance so the comparison to the skin is a unreserved statement outlining how easily the skin is. There is obviously a drought or a vast undersupply of water. The opening surprises the reader and gives an indication of what is to come. The poet uses a short and abrupt line which is effective
I read a story, after I finished reading it my mind was still reeling over what I had just read. Stories like this are quite impressive magnificent; they draw the reader into the story and leave them with a strong impact. How we interpret a text is in itself impressive, as every person is different, every interpretation is too. As I read “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, I could not help but notice that Kate Chopin uses the window to symbolize the future that Mrs. Mallard has been pinning for all her life. Chopin also uses Mrs. Mallard’s heart condition as a symbol of Mrs. Mallard’s marriage. The short story is consequentially the story of an oppressed woman who had to confine herself to the social norms of marriage. Through Formalism Criticism, we will explore the various symbols that Chopin uses to describe how Mrs. Mallard yearns for freedom, and through the Feminist Criticism, we will explore how the institution of marriage oppresses our heroin.
To begin, the episodic shifts in scenes in this ballad enhance the speaker’s emotional confusion. Almost every stanza has its own time and place in the speaker’s memory, which sparks different emotions with each. For example, the first stanza is her memory of herself at her house and it has a mocking, carefree mood. She says, “I cut my lungs with laughter,” meaning that...
“The Story of An Hour” by Kate Chopin, is a story that has been controversial since its publication in 1894, with reviews ranging from highly critical to great acclaim. The story follows Chopin’s character Mrs. Mallard who is introduced at the same time she is receiving news of her husband’s death. The story is largely a mixture of radical views for its time, subtle meanings, and symbolism. While modern day readers read this story with an open mind, many men - of the 1890’s and much of the 1900’s - would have been outraged at its surface meaning. However, even today Chopin’s story receives criticism for being a gross portrayal of a woman's loss. This is due to the fact that many individuals continue to view the story at face value. Nevertheless, readers of Chopin’s story will find themselves reacting either one extreme or the other. But it is this reader participation that is crucial in determining what the story will be. Despite all beliefs, Mrs. Mallard is a woman who is stuck in her time trying to escape society’s constraints, develop her own identity, all while “coping” with the loss of her husband.