"Long Distance II," by English poet Tony Harrison, explores the pain and power of grief. The speaker at first seems incredulous at his father's inability to accept his mother's death; years after she'd died, his father's life still revolved around her, as if she might at any moment return. Though the speaker initially struggled with his father's irrational behavior, he admits that, now that his father himself has died, he still calls his disconnected phone number from time to time. In this way, the poem suggests that denial is a normal part of grieving the loss of a loved one. "Long Distance II" was published in Harrison's 1981 poetry collection, Continuous: 50 Sonnets from The School of Eloquence (an expansion of his 1978 collection, From the School of Eloquence and Other Poems).

• Read the full text of “Long Distance II”

• “Long Distance II” Summary

• “Long Distance II” Themes

  • 

    Death, Grief, and Denial

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-16
  • 

    The Persistence of Love

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-4
    • Line 8
    • Lines 14-16

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Long Distance II”

  • Lines 1-4

    Though my mother ...
    ... her transport pass.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-8

    You couldn't just ...
    ... such a crime.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 9-12

    He couldn't risk ...
    ... get the tea.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 13-16

    I believe life ...
    ... I still call.

    

    

    

    

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• “Long Distance II” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 6-7: “time / to”
    • Lines 10-11: “key / scrape”

  • Caesura

    

    

    

    

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    Where caesura appears in the poem:

    • Line 5: “in. You”
    • Line 13: “death, and”
    • Line 14: “shopping; just”

  • Anaphora

    

    

    

    

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    Where anaphora appears in the poem:

    • Line 5: “You,” “You”
    • Line 6: “He'd”
    • Line 9: “He”
    • Line 12: “He”

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “my mother,” “dead”
    • Line 2: “Dad”
    • Line 3: “bottles,” “bed”
    • Line 8: “still,” “such”
    • Line 10: “he'd,” “hear,” “her”
    • Line 15: “new,” “black,” “book,” “name”
    • Line 16: “number”

• “Long Distance II” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • The gas
  • Transport pass
  • Blight of disbelief
  • (Location in poem: Line 2: “Dad kept her slippers warming by the gas,”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Long Distance II”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Long Distance II” Speaker

• “Long Distance II” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Long Distance II”

• More “Long Distance II” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Read Harrison's "Long Distance I" — "Long Distance II" is a continuation of this earlier poem Harrison wrote about his father after his mother died.

    • Tony Harrison, "Man of Mysteries" — Read about Harrison's working-class background and devotion to a more "approachable" kind of writing. 

    • A Reading of the Poem — The poem as read by Daniel J. P. Loughnane.

    • Learn About the Poet's Life — A Poetry Foundation biography of Harrison. 

    • Harrison on Family and Education — A book review discussing Harrison's complicated relationship to his own education and how, in some ways, it alienated him from his parents. 

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Tony Harrison

    • The Bright Lights of Sarajevo

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