Zusammenfassung der Ressource
For Heidi With Blue Hair - Fleur Adcock
- Themes
- Relationships
- Conflict
- Identity
- Childhood
- 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
- 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'
- 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'