British poet and playwright Tony Harrison’s short poem “Long Distance II” is a four-stanza-long poem about the poet’s meditation on death and grief. Written in the mixed rhyme scheme of ABAB for the first three stanzas and ABBA in the final stanza, the poem depicts the narrator’s father’s grief and denial of the death of his mother. The tone is mostly matter-of-fact with an undertone of frustration and surprise at the narrator’s inability to understand or empathise with his father’s actions. The last stanza, however, sees a sudden shift in the tone and the focus of the poem, which will be explained below. The language of the poem is conversational and prose-like, with little or no use of poetic embellishments except the rhyme scheme.

Long Distance II | Summary and Analysis

Lines 1-4

“Though my mother was already two years dead

Dad kept her slippers warming by the gas,

put hot water bottles on her side of the bed

and still went to renew her transport pass.”

At the very beginning of the poem, the reader is informed that the narrator’s mother has been dead for two years. However, that hasn’t been time enough for his father to process and get over his grief completely, he’s in denial over his wife’s death and keeps repeating actions that he would do for her when she was alive, as if she never went away. He keeps her slippers warm, puts hot water bottles on her side of the bed, and keeps renewing her transport pass. The intensity of the man’s grief and denial also reflect the beautiful, loving marriage that they shared, so the thought of coming to terms with losing her companionship is unbearable to the narrator’s father. It also reflects the healthy mutuality of his parents’ relationship, where caregiving was a mutual task, and not just performed by the mother only, as is often seen in patriarchal society. It is also important to note that all of the father’s actions are referred to in the past tense, foreshadowing his death in the final stanza.

Long Distance II | Analysis, Lines 5-8

“You couldn’t just drop in. You had to phone.

He’d put you off an hour to give him time

to clear away her things and look alone

as though his still raw love were such a crime.”

Here, the narrator is describing the rules for visiting that his father had laid down following the death of his beloved wife, demanding prior information via a phone call and not allowing surprise visits. While this may seem surprising, it makes sense when the father’s motives are explained – he needed time to ‘clear away her things and look alone’, not wanting to let other people and even his son know that he continues to pretend that his wife is alive, living very much the same way as he did before she died. All her things are in their old place, and the house looks as if the narrator’s mother has just stepped out for some errands. The father tries to recapture and rebuild her missing presence through her things. 

This stanza also makes it clear that the father is fully conscious of his denial and irrationality, knowing full well that his way of coping would either be branded ‘mad’ or ‘pitiful’ by society. The last line of the stanza alludes to his embarrassment and self-consciousness regarding his ‘raw love’ – in a society that devalues sentimentality, emotions, and vulnerability, especially in men, he knows that his unfiltered, uncompromising love for his wife would only be a source of ridicule. His son, however, appears to empathize with him here, realizing that grief and vulnerability are nothing to be ashamed of.

Long Distance II | Analysis, Lines 9-12

“He couldn’t risk my blight of disbelief

though sure that very soon he’d hear her key

scrape in the rusted lock and end his grief.

He knew she’d just popped out to get the tea.”

The narrator’s father appears to be extremely sensitive about his grief and his emotions, holding on to the hope of his wife’s return despite knowing that he is dead. Since his hope is grounded on denial, a fact that he is aware of, he is also extremely sensitive about it, not wanting to risk his son’s disbelief which would be enough to crumble his hope, effectively destroying any remaining will to live. While his denial is a vicious cycle, it is also the only thing that gives him a sense of purpose in life, the hope of his wife’s return making him carry on. However, the extent of his denial is also very unhealthy, and raises questions of mental health, self-love, and co-dependency, since the father seems to have exhausted all his love for his wife with no room left for himself, finding no purpose in his life without her presence. Alliteration is present in lines 10 and 12.

Long Distance II | Analysis, Lines 13-16

“I believe life ends with death, and that is all.

You haven’t both gone shopping; just the same,

in my new black leather phone book there’s your name

and the disconnected number I still call.”

The last stanza shows a shift of focus from the father’s grief to that of the poetic voice as he now experiences the same kind of denial of his father’s death. This rhyme scheme of the poem echoes this shift, changing from ABAB to ABBA to reflect the reversal of position and vantage point. In the first two lines, the narrator asserts that he believes in the rational, scientific explanation that ‘life ends with death’, and that he is under no fantastic illusions regarding his parents’ absence. This knowledge, however, is not enough to keep him from including his father’s number in his new phone book, and calling the disconnected number that used to belong to him, continuing the process of denial and false hope. 

The poem throws light on the nature of love and grief, and how the act of grieving pays no heed to rationality, science, or even mental health. Neither the narrator nor his father is under any real misconception regarding the death of their loved ones. This knowledge however does not stop them from praying for their return, depicting the intrinsic nature of love that survives in this very act of grieving and of hoping. 

Significance of the Title

The title, “Long Distance II”, uses the modern idea of long-distance romantic relationships and subverts the actual concept to include the irreducible distance that death creates in love, essentially making the act of denial and waiting for the loved one’s return align with the complications and practices of a long distance relationship, except that in this case, the distance is never to be traveled.