Visiting Hour
Overview
In Visiting Hour, the speaker describes a visit to a dying friend in hospital.
He is determined to maintain his composure and not show his worry and fear. But this attempt to switch off his emotions is ultimately unsuccessful. In the end he is forced to confront the reality of both his own and his friend鈥檚 mortality.
Form and structure
The poem is a stream of consciousness from a first person stance. This allows us to experience the emotions of the speaker as he is feeling them.
It is written in free verse and the present tense, and follows the chronological order of the visit.
MacCaig often employs the techniques of enjambment and repetition in this poem to emphasise the central ideas.