The Hospital Window Essay, Research Paper

The decease of a loved one can set impossible emphasis on the

loved 1s of the deceased. This emphasis can do one & # 8217 ; s life helter-skelter

and unpleasant for long periods of clip if the grievers do non

underezd the decease. James Dickey, who believes, & # 8220 ; poesy is the

centre of the originative wheel, & # 8221 ; wrote the verse form, & # 8220 ; The Hospital Window & # 8221 ; .

The relationship between grievers and decease becomes apparent in this

& # 8220 ; simple 54-line verse form. . . about a parent & # 8217 ; s death as a transformative

experience, and the possibility that love conquers fear. & # 8221 ; The verse form

takes topographic point on a metropolis street next to a big infirmary. In & # 8220 ; The

Hospital Window & # 8221 ; , Dickey uses images which represent life and decease to

demonstrate that the decease of a loved one can do one enter a

phantasmagoric province, in which mundane happenings appear to be

heavenly ; nevertheless, if one can get the better of the decease by underezding it,

he can so return to a peaceable life.

In the beginning of the verse form, the images which distinguish

life and decease show that the talker perceives normal events as

religious after go forthing his male parent & # 8217 ; s infirmary room. Dickey & # 8217 ; s

character enters this province when he is on the infirmary lift. As the

lift brings him down to land degree, he remembers his male parent

lying in his room above & # 8220 ; in a blue light. & # 8221 ; ( 3 ) Harmonizing to Gertrude

Jobes, the colour bluish represents Eden and God. Therefore, its

reflecting down on the talker & # 8217 ; s male parent represents God & # 8217 ; s presence with

his male parent. For any other perceiver, the visible radiation is evidently & # 8220 ; shed by

a tinted window, & # 8221 ; ( 4 ) but the talker & # 8217 ; s province of head leads him to

believe that the light radiances from Eden. Once outside, the talker

bends to confront the infirmary. As he turns, he sees that & # 8220 ; [ each ] window

possesses the Sun / As though it burned at that place on a wick. & # 8221 ; ( 13 ) To

Jobes, the Sun represents life. A candle wick Burnss for merely a

certain period of clip, and so dies out. Therefore, the talker

believes that the contemplation of the Sun in the Windowss is really

his male parent & # 8217 ; s life. When the talker reaches out to the Sun, and

& # 8220 ; [ moving ridges ] , like a adult male catching fire, & # 8221 ; ( 15 ) he tries to catch his

male parent & # 8217 ; s life back. At that minute, the blaze from the Sun reflects

in a certain manner, doing & # 8220 ; all the deep-dyed windowpanes flash. & # 8221 ; ( 16 )

This flash, in the talker & # 8217 ; s head, is God making out for the

male parent & # 8217 ; s psyche. Besides, the flash mocks the talker & # 8217 ; s efforts at

catching his male parent & # 8217 ; s life from the clasps of decease. Furthermore, the

talker visualizes God & # 8217 ; s presence by & # 8220 ; all the white suites / [ turning ]

the colour of Heaven. & # 8221 ; ( 18 ) To the talker, the heavenly white colour of

the suites represents pureness and artlessness, as described in Jobes,

while others see simply white suites. As the talker surveies the

Windowss, he sees that all reflect & # 8220 ; flames & # 8221 ; ( 21 ) , or the tapers of the

life still firing. It is so he realizes that his male parent & # 8217 ; s window

is different. It reflects & # 8220 ; the bright, erased blankness of

nothing. & # 8221 ; ( 23 ) The wavering visible radiation seeable in all of the other suites

is non seeable in his male parent & # 8217 ; s room because he is dead. Once the

talker realizes his male parent is dead, he can get down to get the better of the

decease.

In the center of the verse form, images stand foring life and decease

demo how the talker overcomes his male parent & # 8217 ; s decease. After sing

the lunacy of decease, the talker passages from non believing in

the decease to recognizing that his male parent is go forthing him. First, the

spea

ker realizes that his father’s organic structure remains in his room “ [ in ] the

form of his decease still populating & # 8221 ; ( 25 ) . Death still populating represents

the male parent & # 8217 ; s dead organic structure, with the psyche still alive within. This

thought causes a lunacy within the talker because he realizes that

his male parent & # 8217 ; s psyche, oreverything he was, may stay within the cadaver

everlastingly. Finally, his male parent & # 8217 ; s soul & # 8220 ; lifts [ its ] weaponries out of

hush at last & # 8221 ; ( 31 ) , doing the talker to recognize that his

male parent & # 8217 ; s psyche is go forthing the organic structure. The talker & # 8220 ; [ turns ] every bit bluish as a

psyche / As the minute when I was born & # 8221 ; ( 33-34 ) from the realisation that

his male parent will populate on with him everlastingly. This realisation holds true

because his male parent gave him life, so hence his male parent will populate on

in his life. Additionally, the talker realizes that he is & # 8220 ; non

afraid for [ his ] male parent, & # 8221 ; ( 35 ) for he knows his male parent will populate

everlastingly in Eden every bit good as interior of him. On the same note, his

male parent & # 8220 ; is grinning ; he is non / Afraid for [ the talker ‘s ] life,

either. & # 8221 ; ( 36-37 ) The smile shows that the talker realizes his male parent is

pleased with the manner he raised him ; therefore, his male parent is non disquieted

about the waies his boy will take. Conclusively, by get the better ofing his

male parent & # 8217 ; s decease, the talker begins to switch back into a peaceable life.

In the stoping ezzas, Dickey uses images showing life

and decease to demo that the talker returns to a peaceable life. In the

procedure of switching back into his mundane life, the talker becomes

proud of his male parent, trusting that & # 8220 ; the death may drift without fright /

in the bold blue regard of [ his ] father. & # 8221 ; ( 43-44 ) This thought by the

talker shows how he want the other psyches to move like his male parent, and

migrate toward Eden unafraid. His proudness non merely allows him to

be at peace with himself, but besides to believe positively of his male parent.

The talker does non wholly go out his delusional province until

starts to experience his & # 8220 ; pin-tingling manus half dead. & # 8221 ; ( 46 ) His manus fell

asleep in the clip which he held it up toward his male parent. He stares

at his manus & # 8220 ; in astonishment, & # 8221 ; ( 48 ) inquiring why it is asleep. This

astonishment demonstrates that the talker does non clearly retrieve his

old province of head. By non retrieving it, he can more easy

return to a peaceable life. Finally, the talker comprehends that his

male parent looks down upon him from heaven through the & # 8220 ; created chromaticity of

stained glass, & # 8220 ; ( 52 ) or the separation of the universes of Eden and

Earth. The talker so proceeds to recognize how valuable the portion of

his male parent that lives on with him is. At this point, the talker has

& # 8220 ; merely come down from [ his ] male parent, & # 8221 ; intending that he has surpassed the

unhappiness of his male parent & # 8217 ; s decease. In decision, the talker returns to

a peaceable life.

& # 8220 ; The Hospital Window & # 8221 ; demonstrates the method in which is

necessary to get the better of a decease. The phantasmagoric province one enters when

a decease occurs can go really confusing. The griever & # 8217 ; s life becomes

peaceful once more merely when the griever underezds the decease. This

reaction to decease is common throughout society, particularly because the

universe stops for no 1, doing incomparable emphasis on the griever.

When the decease involves a direct household member, the reaction can be

worse. As in the verse form, one must get the better of the decease every bit rapidly as

possible so that he does non do harmful emphasis to himself. The

underezding of the decease is besides of import ; in most instances, it is the

merely manner one can get the better of decease.