In the last Literature classes, we have been working with the poem «For Heidi with Blue Hair». This is the essay I made based on it:

How does Adcock vividly convey solidarity and sympathy for Heidi in her poem “For Heidi with Blue Hair”?

In the poem “For Heidi with Blue Hair” Adcock vividly conveys solidarity and sympathy for Heidi by describing her situation and character by giving some details or ideas which makes us feel identified with her. These ideas are her rebellion and her mother’s death.

At the beginning of the poem it is told that Heidi was a girl who was sent home from school because she had died her hair blue. This, obviously, made readers think she was a rebel girl who just wanted to call people’s attention as most of the teens do. That made teen readers feel identified with her as many of them do this sort of things, and although many teens don’t do such “extreme” things, there is always the situation of rebellion and punishment. Furthermore, when his father had to talk with the school authorities he said “… she (Heidi) is not a punk in her behaviour…”, teens were also identified with this, as in this stage of life they do many things which don’t truly represent how they actually are although they know it and their parents know it. All in all, this kind of situation is the one most of the teens are used to be involved with as they are always trying to call the attention and do things which the would never do so they are able to feel identified with Heidi, due to this, they feel sympathy and solidarity for her.

In the fifth stanza of the poem it is easy to realize how the mood changed drastically from humorous to sorrowful. This happens because a really sad and key factor is mentioned: Heidi’s mother death. When the father says “It would have been unfair to mention yours (Heidi’s) mother’s death…” we can easily realize the reason of Heidi’s decision of dying her hair blue (symbolizes sadness). This makes readers feel empathy for her, but teenagers are particularly able to feel in her situation as, although most of them don’t do this kind of things because of these causes, they can feel as Heidi as there is always another reason for a rebellion apart from the reason people take into account at first sight. All in all they are able to feel empathy and sympathy for Heidi due to the association with her because of the deep causes of the rebellion.
        In conclusion, Adcock uses examples of situations most of the people are going to be identified with as they have , at least once, been involved in those conflicts, to make readers feel sympathy for Heidi in the poem “For Heidi with Blue Hair”.

In our last Literature classes, we have been reading the poem for Heidi with blue hair and this class we were said to see a post in our professor’s blog and anwer the questions given in the presentation (inside the post).

Answers to the questions:

• The poem is about a girl called Heidi (the author’s god-daughter) who dyed her hair blue and was sent home from school. Her father totally supported her decision and even discussed with the school authorities to defend her, but there was no result as he didn’t want to mention the fact that Heidi’s mother had recently died, which was a possible reason of why she decided to change her hair to blue (symbolises sadness). At the end of the story Heidi’s friend dyed her hair too but in the school colours to mock the school’s headmistress as she had told Heidi her hair wasn’t appropiate as it was not in the school colours.  The subject of the story is Heidi who had to cope with her mother’s death to what she responds dyeing her hair blue.
• The writer purpose is to make a sort of tribute to Heidi who had such difficult times during her adolescence. Adcock’s intentions seem to be to make teenangers be indentified with Heidi.
• The structure and puntuation reflect that the poem is written in a narrative style as there are, for example, dialogues inserted. Furthermore, Adcock uses a technique called enjambment which consists in ending stanzas without finishing the sentence so readers keep on reading.
• The poem’s structure reinforces an important idea in her poem as the quantity of lines in each stanza is freely decided, but is the same quantity in each one. This reinforces the idea of freedom against conformity. Which is one of the themes of the poem as Heidi tries to be free against the strict school.
• The headmistress and the teachers are made to sound ridiculous by using irony. For example: «… yours was, apart from anything else, not done in the school colours». In this quote she was refering to the colour of her hair and it isn’t normal to send  student home from school because she didn’t dye her hair in the school colours.
• The tone is from Heidi’s god-mother and its mood and feelings are mostly mocking except for the fifth stanza in which Heidi’s mother death is mentioned. In this stanza the mood is sad, depressive and gloomy.
• The tone and the feelings of the poem highlight the main ideas by using literary devices on them. A clear example is when the school is mocked by saying «… yours was, apart from anything else, not done in the school colours». This deals with the idea of school conformity.
• Some literary devices used are: symbolism (blue hair), irony and metaphors.
• The rebel in the poem is made to sound vulnerable by mentioning her mother’s death, which may have been the cause of her decision of dyeing her hair. She is supported by her father, who was in favour of her decision and her friend who decided to dye her hair in the school colours to mock the school.
• The battle which is named at the end of the poem was the one fought against the school.