For Heidi With Blue Hair - Fleur Adcock

For Heidi With Blue Hair - Fleur Adcock

1. Themes

   • Relationships
   • Conflict
   • Identity
   • Childhood

2. Form and Structure

   • Free verse
     • Lots of enjambment
     • Reinforces idea of rebellion against convention
   • Narrative style
     • i. Two stanzas of situation
     • ii. Two stanzas of reaction - mainly dialogue/direct speech
     • iii. A stanza of background
     • iv. A stanza of resolution/conclusion
   • Poem explores a set of juxtaposing ideas
     • youth and age
     • freedom and convention
     • liberality and restraint
     • rebellion and conformity
     • experimentation and safety
     • flexibility and rigidity

3. Voice and Tone

   • Begins with brisk, factual tone which is undercut by bracketed aside in first stanza.
     • Precise detail given about Heidi's hairstyle which seems appreciative, almost relishing it.
       • the 'clipped sides'
       • the 'crest/ of jet-black spikes on top'
   • Sarcastic tone
     • 'as the headmistress put it'
     • the way the narrator splits 'not' and 'specifically forbidden'
     • ends stanza with ridiculous justification that Heidi's hair was 'not done in the school colours'
     • Narrator ridicules school
       • Shown when 'school colours' is repeated in final line of next stanza
       • Heidi and her father are given a voice but not the headmistress (speech is reported) or teachers who 'twittered'

4. Language

   • Conversational and ordinary language may reflect ordinary at the heart of Heidi's situation
   • 'Shimmered'
     • Powerful metaphoric verb to use in relation to 'mother's death'
     • Suggests beauty and ethereal (spiritual/comforting/protecting) presence, as if mother supports daughter like 'freedom-loving father'
   • 'Twittered'
     • Less attractive verb - teachers sound homogenous, silly and repetitive
   • 'Tears in the kitchen, telephone calls'
     • Double and parallel alliteration makes phrase fast-paced
     • Followed by alliteration of 'freedom-loving father'