Visiting Hour

• "I will not feel, I will not feel, until I have to" is written with the use of repetition to emphasise MacCaig's efforts to suppress his emotions and persuade himself into feeling nothing almost as a coping mechanism.
• "here and up and down and there" is inversion which is used to suggest how the nurses job is never repetitive, they are constantly moving to where they need to be and change direction often.
• "Ward 7." with the use of a caesura it shows how the speaker has physically stopped his journey rather abruptly because he doesn't want to go in.
• "Combs my nostrils as they go bobbing along green and yellow corridors" just as a boat bobs along the water and can sometimes have a loss of both control and direction so both MacCaig and his senses are being overwhelmed by both the sights and smells of the hospital.
• "corpse" has connotations of dead, soulless, which suggests that the essence of the person has left and is no longer human. This highlights that the speaker feels negative and sees death wherever he looks.
• "lightly, swiftly" has connotations of elegance and efficiency which suggests the nurses know their way around the hospital well, they don't have time to waste and spend their time purposeful and focused. This contrasts with the speaker who does not want to be there.
• "Wasted" has connotations of decay or decomposition which suggests the patient is visibly getting thinner and weaker because of their illness.
• "Growing fainter" has connotations of fading or distant which suggests the speaker is leaving his loved ones bedside, but it could also suggest that he is feeling overwhelmed by his emotions.
• "Fruitless fruits" is an oxymoron that has connotations of a lack of reward or purpose which suggests the speaker is feeling hopeless at the end of the visit, that it has been pointless as the gifts he has brought are useless.
• “A withered hand trembles on its stalk” just as a dying flower is dehydrated and brittle, so the patient’s arm is getting thinner and more frail due to the length of her illness. This suggests the patient is gradually fading and possibly dying as once a flower withers it cannot be brought back to health.
• “A glass fang is fixed, not guzzling but giving” Just as a vampire’s fang would pierce the skin in order for the vampire to suck blood from their victim, so the IV needle is attached to the patient in order to try and help her get better. This suggests a negative attitude to the treatment, that the speaker thinks it is invasive and that is doesn’t appear to be helping their loved one recover.