Long+Distance

=Tony Harrison's //from Long Distance//=

**Harrison** **From “Long Distance”** General Stuff: So, a modern poet, unlike Hopkins, Whitman, Monkhouse. Had a difficult relationship with his father – Harrison was bright enough to win a scholarship to go to a school where he got a broad education (classics etc.) which distanced him from his working - class father. __ Structure __ Rhyme and rhythm 4 Stanzas of 4 lines – quatrains First 3 fit the pattern of a “heroic quatrain” as far as rhyme scheme goes – ABAB But are they also generally iambic pentameter (in which case the fit would be perfect)? -- quite likely, but will work as a class to figure it out. . . (extra syllable every 2 lines) Major Variant in the rhyme scheme is Stanza 4 – which splits with a rhyming couplet in the middle two lines -- if they are in iambic pentameter, they are then “heroic couplets” – if not, simply a variant. -- the last two lines have one more syllable (rather than the alternating of the earlier stanzas) __Content__ Subject of first 3 stanzas is how the poet’s father (or the narrator, persona of the poem) coped with the death of his wife, the persona’s mother 4th stanza shifts focus onto the voice itself – it’s beliefs – and how it copes with both of their deaths. __ Stanza 1 __ -- reads very fluidly – probably mostly iambic then -- the images we get here (not much figurative language) are simple and clear; “put hot water bottles her side of the bed”, for instance – very sort of run of the mill things (which is the point, really, isn’t it?) He’s dealing with his wife’s death by not dealing with it. . . -- it’s also all one long sentence. (Conversational) __ Stanza 2 __ -- First line – interesting use of the second person (switch from the first person in the first stanza). Accusatory tone? “You couldn’t” “You had to” – resentful, frustrated by the situation. -- much more broken rhythm because of the punctuation and shortened sentences in that line. --Next 3 lines back to conversational tone, but still the disassociated “you” – father’s isolated too – “look alone”; “crime” to feel “raw” still (is this the persona’s opinion of his father’s behaviour? Is it being regretted here? (what is the tone of those final 3 lines)? __ Stanza 3 __ -- back to the first person and the 3rd “he” and “my” from first line -- “couldn’t risk my blight of disbelief” – ties back into this perception of his death of feeling as some sort of crime . . . but also, what does he mean by “blight of disbelief” (metaphor)  -- a “blight” – Three possible/ connected readings – blight is a disease that withers/ kills plants. But also, a bad or evil influence, or, as a verb “to blight” means to spoil.  -- no clear way in which to read it (could be deliberately ambiguous and allow all to function).  -- first 3 lines one sentence – persona imagining his father’s thoughts and justifications  -- last sentence – italicized “knew” – emphasis on the strength of the delusion; how much he needs to hold onto it? -- does the voice have sympathy for his father here? __ Stanza 4 __ --first line, switch to clearly the persona’s opinion: “I believe that life ends with death, and that is all.” -- no resurrection, no clear Christian theological underpinnings visible here. -- is it an attempt by the persona to avoid feeling the loss of his parents? -- it’s so final – not just in the content, but in the way it is said – short, clipped. -- next 3 lines; shift in the 2nd line marked by the punctuation (semi-colon) – rationalization, followed by admission (confession) of the same sort of behaviour exhibited by his father.

The following is a variety of valuable responses and analysis of this poem. None are complete analysis, but combined, they can be helpful to your own interpretation of the poem's meaning.

analysis :.

The poem Long Distance is about the love in a close family. Firstly, the love felt by the father regarding his wife and later on, the love felt by the son, which is apparent through his sense of loss. All of this shows a close, loving family.

It is a sad poem filled with grief, which the poet seems to find hard to understand: "He couldn't risk my blight of disbelief".

However, later he understands that grief too well, when he experiences it himself at the death of his father.

It is a vey interesting poem in which nobody in his family can seem to come to terms with death.

what i think :.

” It was written by Tony Harrison who was born in Leeds in 1947. His poems explore his family life and working class childhood dealing with issues in class and couture. In the last 25 years Harrison concentrated on writing for stage and film. This poem is about a mother who has died. The son is very concerned for his father who after 2 years can not get over the fact his wife has died. His dad still believes that his mother will return by saying “through sure that very soon he’d hear her key scrape in the rusted lock and end his grief” The son describes his feelings about death as simple as he can he believes that “I believe life ends with death that is all” He keeps his beliefs short and gets to the point, that he knows he will never see his mother. He has not hope or faith. After this line the poem moves on saying that someone else has died. I believe it is his father that has died as it says “you haven’t Both gone shopping” as his mother died when she went out shopping. When the son says “in my new black leather phone book there’s your name and the disconnected number I still call. This is explaining that he still has his dad’s number in his new phone book because he still has the memories Of him and when he goes to call his parents it is disconnected as they are both dead, so he understands how his father felt. As the reader of this poem I feel upset because after his mother has gone the son must have spent a lot of time with his father and now he has gone he has know one left. But I believe that to miss his family so much, he must have had a good life with them, so he should be happy that they had a happy family life instead of hating his parents and them dying and him not being able to say sorry, or even love each other. Love creates love because his parents had a happy loving relationship; he understands true love and appreciates what he has now lost.

Writing Techniques. :.

The poem uses enjambment, (the continuation of meaning, without pause or break, from one line to the next) in the second paragraph: ‘He’d put you off an hour to give him time To clear her thing and look alone...’ The use off enjambment here created movement within the poem. The longer sentence gives the impression of a long period of time, and that the grief and every day routine of ‘putting up appearances’ that Harrison’s father laboriously deals with. Another technique used in the poem is Caesura (A pause, or break in the middle of a line) ‘You couldn’t just drop in. You had to phone.’ The use of Caesura has the opposite effect to the later use of enjambment. It sounds ‘matter-a-fact’ and mundane. The reader is unable to argue with the quick and factual piece of information. The poem itself has a loose ‘ABAB’ rhyming scheme in the first three paragraphs, and then in the last verse the rhyming scheme changes to an ‘ABBA’ structure. The effect created by this is singling out the last paragraph as important, and showing that there has been some kind of change between the previous paragraphs and the final paragraph (The previous paragraphs only deal with Harrison’s father’s reaction to his wife’s death, but the final paragraph is set once both of Harrison’s parents have died, and he is now feeling the grief.) The fact the rhyming scheme is fairly loose helps the reader to focus on the message of the poem, and not just a rhyming pattern.

Harrison avoids the use of metaphors, figurative language and similies in this poem. Because death and the distant relationship with his parents are pofound topics that do not need extra creativity. Instead he uses blunt and stark words to create an emotion that is clear in subject matter. I believe harrison felt deeply for his parents even though there were many cracks which faultered their relationship, because he writes so intently to describe a regretful past.