Cognitive Stylistic Analysis of Tony Harrison's Poem "Long Distance"

Abstract or Introduction

In his 1978 poem ‘Long Distance’ Tony Harrison describes his father’s difficulties in
coming to terms with his wife’s death and the emotions Harrison himself experiences
upon the death his father. To arrive at this interpretation after reading the poem is, by
all means, a valid insight. It would, however, be a pity to be contented with this
alone. For such a reading does probably not allow for the rhetoric means to be fully
appreciated to which Harrison reverted to communicate his poem successfully.
Furthermore, the way in which the reader experiences the poem, as well as how it
affects the reader would not find consideration. In short – the poem’s texture would
not be accounted for. The following analysis, based on my own natural reading,
attempts to describe and explain the texture of Harrison’s poem.
As is to be expected, the first stanza of the poem has a distinct effect on the
reader. For one, this is because the level of concentration is still high. More
importantly, however, the first stanza of the poem presents the reader with an
appealing text world. Foremost, the agent of the sentence is human, namely the
narrator’s father. A human agent, in a way, provides the reader with the possibility to
interact mentally with or develop sentiments towards him. Stockwell (2009: 25)
illustrates this with his empathetic recognisability scale on which human agents rank
highest. Besides this, the line initial positioning and, somewhat obvious,
capitalization of the word ‘Dad’ (l. 2) attract the reader’s attention. Furthermore, the
actions described are all in the active voice and literally convey motion, which will
appear more intense to a reader which Stockwell (2009: 25) terms activeness. Lastly,
the objects described in the first stanza, ‘slippers’, ‘bottles’, and ‘transport pass’
(ll. 2, 3, 4 respectively), all form good attractors as they are concrete, very ordinary
objects to which every reader ought to be able to relate easily. Together, these three
factors ensure that the first stanza remains fairly prominent in the reader’s mind
throughout the reading of the poem.[...]