Word and Phrase Meaning
Why is the word "knew" in italics in the poem?
The father is not accepting that his wife is dead and he thinks that he can control his wife and make it look like she still lives in that house but in reality he cannot control this and she is not coming back.
Name a few themes in the poem
Death, Grief, Denial, Irrationality VS Rationality and Love
What is the poem about?
The poem is about a son who has lost both his parents but is in denial about it. His father had gone through a similar situation, when his wife died.
What are the figures of speech used in the poem "The Long Distance II" by Tony Harrison?
The poem contains enjambment, Caesura, inversion and metaphor
What is the tone of the poem "From Long Distance"?
The tone of the poem is one of sadness and regret.
Define and explain the word "Grief" in context to the poem.
great sadness, especially at the death of someone.
This depicts how the author uses the state of the father as “grief” this shows how even after 2 years he could not get over the fact that she no longer existed
Explain the theme of death
Throughout the third stanza, the theme of death is signified as he has a hard time to accept that she is gone and is still under the assumption she will pop up randomly, he distinctly wait for the noise of keys to check whether she is coming back, you see many people find this method irrational however when dealing with the death of a loved one, rationality is taken over by our innate emotions and make us do all sorts of illogical things to cope the death of a loved one
What does the father do to cope with his wife's death? Give evidence
Instead of coping with his wife's death, the father makes the house seem like she still lives there and has not died. Evidence - First stanza line 2, 3 and 4.
Why does the poet use enjambment?
The Poet uses enjambment throughout the poem to increase the pace of the poem. It builds the momentum which sustains the reader’s anxiety to the end of the poem.
Who is the poem about?
The poem is about the speaker's relationship with his father who has passed away.
Define and explain the term "transport pass" in the context of the poem.
A ticket that allows a passenger of the service to take either a certain number of pre-purchased trips or unlimited trips within a fixed period of time. “Transport pass” indicates how he needs his companion for travel and life. The reason for him to buy the pass is due to the fact that he misses his wife
Explain the theme of denial.
The speaker of "Long Distance II" describes his father's inability to accept his mother's death. Two years after the loss of his wife, the speaker's father was still keeping her "slippers warm[]" and "renew[ing] her transport pass." The speaker, who "believe[s] life ends with death, and that is all," didn't share his father's delusions that his mother would return to them. And yet, at the end of the poem, the speaker admits that he still calls his now-deceased father's "disconnected" phone number from time to time. The poem thus relays the power of grief to make people behave in ways that don't always make sense and to search for comfort in irrational places. Denial is a natural part of the grieving process, the poem suggests, because it's difficult and painful to wrap one's head around the finality of death.
What is the "blight of disbelief" in the poem?
It is the curse of disbelief. The son would remind the father that his wife is dead but his father does not want to accept it and is in denial because he does not want to face the reality.
Find an example of caesura in the poem
Line 5 - "You couldn't just drop in. You had to phone"
Line 13 - "I believe life ends with death, and that is all.
Line 14 - "You haven't both gone shopping; just the the same"
What emotions does the speaker express in the poem?
The speaker expresses feelings of loss, sadness, and regret in the poem.
Define and explain the word "disbelief" in context to the poem
The feeling of not being able to believe that something is true or real.The word disbelief shows how the father is acting and he knows that he doesn’t want to deal with the reality of the wife being dead. The phrase “ he couldn’t risk my disbelief” depicts how he can’t risk letting his child know and is trying to protect his child from all of this.
The father's actions in the years after his wife's death reflected his continued desire to take care of her. That he kept "her slippers warm[]" and "put hot water bottles" on her side of the bed reveals that he wanted to make her comfortable and happy; a lifetime of doing so didn't just evaporate overnight. While it's true that he was protecting himself by refusing to fully accept that she was gone, the specific nature of his actions conveys just how much he still loved her. He kept "her things" around him, readers can assume, because he didn't want a life without her. And although she had been dead for years, his love was "still raw"—it didn't dull with time.
The fact that the speaker calls his father's disconnected number conveys his own love for his family. The speaker understands that his parents "haven't both gone shopping"—that is, they haven't just stepped out to run errands and they are never coming back. But while the speaker seems more aware of the irrationality of his actions than his dad was, the act of calling conveys his intense longing to hear his father's voice again. He misses his father enough to momentarily convince himself, or at least try to convince himself, that he's still alive. Denial is an act of self-preservation, but it also is an illustration of deep, enduring love.
He told his son to call so that he knows for sure that it is his son coming and not his wife. The only people with the key to the house were the father, mother and son. So when the key turns in the lock, instead of the father thinking the wife has returned, he will know it is the son who has come. It also gives the father time to clean up everything and make it look like he has accepted his wife's death.
Explain why the poet uses inversion in the last line of the poem.
The poet uses inversion in line 16 ‘and the disconnected number I still call’. He uses it to achieve the rhyme scheme and create a sense of continuity.
How does the imagery in the poem contribute to its overall mood?
The imagery in the poem, with references to a "void" and "silence" left by the father's absence, contributes to the overall somber and melancholic mood of the poem.
Define and explain the word "blight" in context to the poem.
It is something that spoils or has a very bad effect on something, often for a long time. In this poem the author uses “blight” as the word that describes the pain and sadness the father is feeling after his wife’s death. Therefore in the phrase “ he couldn’t risk my blight of disbelief” it means that he aware that the routine he was keeping up with was wrong but he didn’t want to give it up as he did not was to believe it or face reality.
Explain the theme of rationality vs irrationality
his father was so committed to this fantasy that "You couldn't just drop in." You'd have to call ahead "to give him time / to clear away her things and look alone." This suggests that the father knew how irrational his behavior appeared to others but that self-awareness wasn't enough to stop him from doing these things. The speaker also says his father "couldn't risk [the speaker's] blight of disbelief"—that is, he didn't want to be tainted by his son's refusal to play into the fiction that his mother had just stepped "out to get the tea." Part of being in denial, the poem suggests, is protecting oneself from the truth.
What is the irony in the poem?
The son called the father illogical and irrational for not accepting his wife's death and continuing to live like she is still alive. However, when the father also dies, the son has the some illogical reaction and does not accept the death of his parents. He is falling into the same grief trap as his father.
The poet uses the metaphor ‘… his still raw love were such a crime’ in line 8. This portrays the kind of love that exists between the persona’s dad and his wife. This love runs in the family as the persona finds it difficult to get hold of himself when both parents died. This helps to concretize that theme of love in the poem.
How does the poet's use of language contribute to the reflective mood of the poem?
The poet's use of introspective language and reflective tone throughout the poem contributes to the reflective mood. The use of first-person perspective also allows the poet to explore his own emotions and memories, enhancing the reflective mood of the poem.