For Heidi with blue hair – Fleur Adcock Poem Analysis

Fleur Adcock – ‘For Heidi With Blue Hair’

Poem analysis

Stanza 1
When you dyed your hair blue
(or, at least, ultramarine
for the clipped sides, with a crest
of jet-black spikes on top)
you were sent home from school

• Title: “For Heidi” – This makes the poem personal.
• Second person: “When you dyed your hair blue” – Feels as if the poet was talking to you. Makes us understand Heidi.
• Informal tone: The poet writes this poem in a conversation format to her friend. This tells us about what Heidi did at school that sent her home.
• Imagery: “ultramarine for the clipped sides, with a crest of jet-black spikes on top” – Gives the reader a detailed image of how Heidi dyes her hair.

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Stanza 2
because, as the headmistress put it,
Although dyed hair was not
specifically forbidden, yours
was, apart from anything else,
not done in the school colours.

• Enjambment: “Although dyed hair was not specifically forbidden” – Makes this poem more like a letter/message to friend.
• Diction: “yours was,” – The poet makes this seem unfair for Heidi because her hair colour was not allowed at school.

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Stanza 3
Tears in the kitchen, telephone-calls
to school from your freedom-loving father:
‘She’s not a punk in her behavior;
it’s just a style.’ (You wiped your eyes,
also not in a school colour.)

• Diction: “Tears” – Tears show a softer side to Heidi, many people may think of Heidi as a rebel but the word Tears make her seem less dangerous.
• Description: “freedom-loving father” – This describes Heidi’s father as a supportive father who allowed her to dye her hair and is on her side. Heidi also recently lost her mother so they are trying to cope with this.
• Contrast: “It’s just a style.” – This shows that her father and the school has a completely opposite perspective of her hair.

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Stanza 4
‘She discussed it with me first –
we checked the rules.’ ‘ And anyway, Dad,
it cost twenty-five dollars.
Tell them it won’t wash out –
not even if I wanted to try.’

• Contrast: “She discussed it with me first – we checked the rules” – This makes it clear that Heidi’s father and the school has a different opinion on Heidi’s hair.
• Direct speech (dialogue): “She discussed it with me first – we checked the rules” – This was written from her father’s perspective making it more realistic for the reader.

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Stanza 5
‘It would have been unfair to mention
your mother’s death, but that
shimmered behind the arguments.
The school had nothing else against you;
the teachers twittered and gave in.

• “It would have been unfair to mention your mother’s death” This tells the reader that Heidi recently lost her mother.
• Metaphor: “Shimmered behind the arguments” – Other people were aware of the sad news”
• “The school had nothing else against you” – Suggests that Heidi doesn’t normally cause problems at school
• Onomatopoeia: “teachers twittered” – gives the teachers a negative image.

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Stanza 6

‘Next day your black friend had hers done
in grey, white and flaxen yellow –
the school colours precisely
an act of solidarity, a witty
tease. The battle was already won

• “Next day your black friend had hers done” – Her friend dyes her hair to supports her. This shows solidarity
• “witty tease” – Her friend dyes her hair in school colours just to support Heidi.
• Hyperbole: “The battle was already won” – The students have made a point to the school about dyeing their hair to school.