From long distance

By Tony Harrison
Title significance
• From Long Distance
structure
• Four stanza poem
• Quatrains
• Alternate Rhyme scheme
Though my mother was already two years
dead
• Though= adverb of concession
• My – first person narrative voice
• My mother/ dad= theme of family
• Flash back= mother’s death
• Already= time adverb
Dad kept her slippers warming by the gas
• Dad= kinship image
• Kept= Past tense verb
• Warming= thermal image/progressive aspect/ also connotes warmth of
feelings/ it was a gesture of warmth
• Gas= modern images
• The strong marital bond that transcends death even.
• Father cherishes the memories of the wife by clinging onto her memories,
all the paraphernalia residual may be from a long drawn terminal illness.
The house rooms may have undergone many changes to accommodate
her needs. The layout may be messy.
Put hot water bottles her side of the bed
Put hot water bottles her side of the bed
• Past tense verb
• Images of comfort
• Thermal images- hot
• gestures of caring, tenderness, and love
• Dad takes care that the sick wife may never experience discomfort on
the wintry days which aggravate sickness.
And still went to renew her transport pass
And still went to renew her transport pass
Still= time adverb/ related to present
Went= past verb
Renew= irony since she is dead/ in reality he renews her memories.
Transport pass= symbol / she is already transported from life to
death
You couldn’t just drop in. You had to phone.
You couldn’t just drop in. You had to phone.
Repetition of you.
You= the reader/ use of second person
pronoun/adds to the dramatic element
Couldn’t= contracted form/ casual tone
Just= casual tone
Drop in= conversational/ colloquial language
Had to= tone of compulsion/ obligation
He’d put you off an hour to give him time
He’d put you off an hour to give him time

he’d = contracted form

the speaker’s prior experiences with such calls
and the typical reactions of the father.
Cautionary tone.
In his effort to be/act normal he removes all the
modifications and lays them out again after the
visitor’s departure.
To clear away her things and look alone
To clear away her things and look alone
The rooms may have had a layout to indicate evidence of the
sick wife’s presence.
He needs time to remove the arrangements that had survived
over two years despite her death.
Look Alone= father is a widower who is stereotyped as a lone
figure by the world. in the public eye only, he himself doesn’t
think so.
As though his still raw love were such a
crime
As though his still raw love were such a crime
as though= simile
still= adverb of time refers to the present time
raw= passionate and fresh/ Ironical since the death is past
he acts like a criminal trying to hide evidence of a crime
crime= cherishing the love for the wife
theme= marital love
he is aware of the public opinion who will rank him as
insane, and abnormal in his excessive behavior.
The speaker doesn’t share the public opinion.
Irony= love is not a crime
alliteration= still/ such
3. He couldn’t risk my blight of disbelief
my = speaker (gender unknown) s/he
3. He couldn’t risk my blight of disbelief

he= father
couldn't= contracted form
the speaker does not endorse such behavior by the father.
Father has not compromised with death.
No closure for him. he acts with a fierce denial of the mother’s departure by death.
He lives in denial of reality. This is a concern of the speaker.
Though sure that very soon he’d hear her
key
Scrape in the rusted lock and end his grief.
Scrape in the rusted lock and end his grief.

Rusted lock= symbolic of his own rusted life. His existence rusts following the
death of his wife.
Literally, the door (heart) remains unopened for two years now, the lock rusting
since.
The rusty lock shows the resistance of the father to accept the stark reality.
The speaker wishes the ghost of the mother may visit him and haunt him thereby
unifying him with the spirit of the mother eventually bringing closure to his ever-
existing grief-stricken anxiety.
Key= symbol= the answer to his illusory life.
Door=symbol= outlet for his grief.
He knew she’d just popped out to get the tea
He knew she’d just popped out to get the tea

he= father
she = wife
just= casual tone
popped out= casual
he’s under the fantasy that the mother will return shortly having exited the room to bring him tea.
The father is so confused about the time frames.
He cannot come to terms with her separation by death.
He thinks of a temporary departure by his wife.
Mood of anticipation
I believe life ends with death, and that is
all.
I believe life ends with death, and that is all.
I- the speaker
we see the speaker’s stance on life and death.
In her opinion death brings a neat closure to life with no afterlife.
That is all=Tone of finality and confidence.
A modern thinker/ practical/ realistic/ skeptical/ scientific thinker
a non-believer in ghosts spirits, waifs, after-life
You haven’t both gone shopping: just the
same
You haven’t both gone shopping: just the same
you- father
you used to refer to three groups
you= the reader
you= the father
you= mother
she is realistic and tries to convince the father that the mother’s arrival is not to be
anticipated as she would do after a shopping spree or after making tea in the
kitchen.
Just the same- a parallel is drawn between the behavior of the living mother and the
silence following her death.
In my new black leather phone book there’s
your name
In my new black leather phone book, there’s your name
now the speaker turns to herself.
Usually, a new phone book will be subject to a lot of editing removing
the names of the loved ones dead in the past year, etc.
By now two years have passed since her mother’s demise. But the
mother s name is entered in the updated versions of the phonebook.
This shows that despite the speaker’s claim on her practical, realistic
approach to life and death she too seems to nurture a fantasy in
the deepest heart that the mother might contact her/him from a long
distance.
And the disconnected number I still call

the speaker goes on to show how her realistic-self abandons her when
it comes to the loss of a loved and special one.
With full awareness of the futility of her action, she derives pleasure in
calling her mothers number with a faint hope that the call is connected
one day. Her craving to hear her dead mother’s voice over the phone is a
lesser version of her fantasy in contrast with the extreme actions of her
father.
Her practical, skeptical, nonbelieving self fails in the face of deep loss
where the mourners resort to desperate actions such as calling the dead
one.
The paradoxical final line shows that both father and speaker are lost in
the world of grief.
Themes
• Family
• Human relationships ( marital / parental relationship)
• life vs death
• Society
• Reality vs. fantasy
How does Harrison make the poem very
moving?
• A death is involved a
• mother dead
• The reactions of the father
• The realistic stance of the speaker
• The fantasy-led speaker at the end
• The irony
• Symbols
• The interactive nature of the poem
• The continuation of the memory