Image by ~Duncan~ via Flickr

In this essay I will be exploring how the poem ‘Visiting Hour’ by Norman MacCaig describes the poet’s character.  The poem is about Norman MacCaig visiting his dying relation in hospital.  He is nervous about how he will react to seeing her.  I believe this poem effectively reveals his character and personality through the use of imagery and symbolism.

The beginning of the poem reveals that even in the most depressing and serious situations MacCaig can still maintain a sense of humour.  For example when he is talking about the smell of the hospital he says his nostrils “bobbing along” He is also trying to create a humorous image to help him cope with his situation.

In the second verse McCaig thinks he sees a corpse being “trundled into a lift”  and makes a wry joke about it “vanishing heavenward”.  Here MacCaig seems to be mocking the idea that it is possible to ascend to heaven on a lift and seems to be making fun of the idea of an afterlife.

In the third verse we are given a powerful insight into MacCaig’s character.  We see in this verse how he truly feels about visiting his dying relation.  He is scared and does not want to endure the pain that her inevitable death will cause.  This can clearly be seen when he says “I will not feel, I will not feel, until I have to”.  He is trying to separate himself from reality and doesn’t want to come to terms with his situation.

MacCaig reveals in the fourth verse that he is an appreciative character.  He admires the nurses for the job that they do and how well they seem to cope with working in a place where so many deaths happen.  He is amazed at how well they cope with so many farewells. “Their (the nurses) slender waists miraculously carry their burden of so much pain, so many deaths, their eyes still clear after so many farewells”

In verse five MacCaig abruptly reaches his relation’s room. “Ward 7″ We are given a sense of the pain he feels as he describes his dying relation with imagery.  “A withered hand trembles on its stalk” This is a good example of MacCaig expressing his feelings towards his relation and how he thinks of her as a beautiful flower which is passing away.  “In too an arm wasted of colour a glass fang is fixed not guzzling but giving” This image displays MacCaig negative feelings about his relation’s death. And fangs are known as vampires a tooth which is used in the area of sucking blood, but the opposite of that is shown here.

In this same verse MacCaig’s close relationship with his relation is revealed.  His bond with her is revealed in the lines “And between her and me distance shrinks till there is none left but the distance of pain that neither she nor I can cross”  MacCaig is frustrated because he can be very close to her but he can never fully experience her pain.

MaCaig’s empathetic nature is revealed in the last verse of the poem.  He is trying to understand and experience what his relation is going through by using his imagination “She smiles a little at this black figure in her white cave who clumsily rises in the round swimming waves of a bell and dizzily goes off, growing fainter, not smaller”.

The poem ends with MaCaig’s acceptance of his relation’s coming death.  He is a character who can accept reality even though it is very painful.  Throughout the poem he has tried to avoid and block out the reality of his relation’s death but now he accepts the inevitable “growing fainter, not smaller, leaving behind only books which will not be read and fruitless fruits” This symbolises his acceptance of her fate.

In the end MacCaig has to let go and accept the fate of his relation.  His overall character is someone who avoids the truth but can learn to accept things when there is no other option and he also likes to mask his true feelings using his sense of humour.