# data[].attributes.body
I think this poem Is about a man who was married to a woman that is now dead but he carries on still keeping her in his heart. The poem is organised into four stanzas containing the tasks the husband does for his passed away wife for example " still went to renew her transport pass"the word "still" implies that he has been doing it for a long long time. I think that the poem is trying to tell us that love is unconditional and that you love your loved ones forever and that even though he says that life ends at death he still feels the love to her when it says"the disconnected number I still call". The poet uses a regular rhyme scheme possibly to show the routine of tasks that the man has to do daily.
Through out the poem Harrison suggests his father's grief is painful. For example the word "scrape" emphasis that the door is rusty and old and that he has locked his love to her and made it hard to unlock, so the key would "scrape" the door as it will be hard to unlock.The word "raw" shows that his love is still there but it needs her to connect it. The word "crime" shows that he loves her so so much that he thinks it's a crime.

# data[].attributes.body
I think that the poem is about an old man that is coping with the loss of his wife and the voice of the poem being the son. I think that both the voice and the father are morning from the loss of a little bed one in their own ways. The father still ‘kept her slippers warm under the gas’ showing that he wants to keep her memory alive.

The writer uses a variety of words to describe how the characters are feeling. He explains that his love for her is still ‘raw’ this shows that the pain of her death is still very sore and delicate inside him. He also used the word ‘scrape’ this illustrates that the pain he is going through is very difficult and can’t let go very easily. These words emphasis the true insights of which a love would leave behind.

The open is organised into uniformed paragraphs. This shows a sense of repeatition or which the father is going though and that the pain isn’t going away and it is constant. It also rhythms. This means the writer wants to to think that he is constantly doing the same things over and over again.

I think that the poem is describing how dealing with a death of a loved one can be very difficult, and shows how people can deal with it. It implies that it takes a long period of time and doesn’t go away very quickly and that you should be patient with yourself and others grieving.

I feel really sorry for both the dad and the voice of the poem. They are both going through a really hard time and need to stick together. But I also feel that if they did less and less of the things they do everyday the process might speed up and they will find themselves in a new routine but she will not be forgotten.

# data[].attributes.body
In the poem, Long Distance II by Tony Harrison, the nature of loss is presented through the actions of the father in the first three stanzas and the son, who is the speaker or narrator, in the final stanza. Throughout the poem, there is a strong sense of disbelief and determination shown through the characters as they behave as though the person who has died is still in their presence and is still alive. The poem is about a man or a woman who is recalling their childhood in which their father is grieving over the loss of his wife.

In the first stanza, we see that the father of the child cannot let go of the fact that his wife is dead. This is shown through the actions of the father as he “kept her slippers warming by the gas” and “put hot water bottles her side of the bed”. It is like the father is expecting the wife to return at some point, so he does all of these things so that, if she ever does come back, he would have everything ready for her. The fact that the speaker was a child at this time; it seems like the child had to take care of their father, rather than the other way around. Because the child is too young to understand and hasn’t known their mother for as long as the father has, they are not as fazed by the loss of their mother as the father is. The actions of the father are almost psychopathic as he doesn’t just miss his wife, but he believes that she will come back some day.

In the second stanza, we understand that the father is ashamed that he cannot let go of the loss of his wife. Harrison writes “…to clear away her things and look alone as though his still raw love were such a crime.” This shows that the father doesn’t want anyone to know that he can’t get over the loss of his wife, so he hides “her things” to appear as though he actually is over her loss. The phrase “her things” shows that the father is a very sentimental person and this contrasts with the line “he’d put you off an hour” to show that he has kept many of his wife’s belongings, as it takes an hour to hide them all away. Harrison writes “as though his still raw love were such a crime.” which brings out a protective tone in the speaker. Harrison repeats the word “still” throughout the poem, which has multiple connotations as it could be referring to the ‘still’ body of the wife, but could also be referring to the father and how he ‘still’ believes that his wife will return to him and his child.

In the third stanza, Harrison writes “He couldn’t risk my blight of disbelief” which shows that the father doesn’t want his child to end up like him. The father and the child are both taking care of each other. The father knows that his wife is dead, yet he strongly believes that there is a chance that she could return at any moment. Harrison writes “he’d hear the key… and end his grief… she’d just popped out to get the tea.” The father is convincing himself that the wife is not dead and that she will return and end his sorrow. The tone that the speaker has is very slow and understanding in a sense that the speaker knows and understands what their father is suffering from.

The final stanza changes in chronology from the past to when the speaker was a child, to the present where the speaker is now older. Harrison writes “I believe life ends with death, and that is all. You haven’t both gone shopping…” We understand that the speaker’s father has also died, but the speaker seems to be convincing themselves that they won’t come back and that he will not end up the same way that his father did. However, the speaker “still calls” the disconnected phone number, so the actions of the father are reflected in the actions of the speaker.

The nature of loss is presented in this poem through the actions and behaviour of the father and the child and how they react to the loss of their loved ones. There is a strong sense of disbelief and the idea that there is still a chance that the ones who have died will somehow return at some point in their lives.

# data[].attributes.body
Add your response to the wall!

You can type up your response.

Talk us through it.

Film a video.

Write it out, take a photo and upload it!

Take a photo of mind map you might have created.