poetry

1. FOR HEIDI WITH BLUE HAIR
By Fleur Adcock

2. IN YOUR POETRY JOURNAL:
• Imagine if people had to wear warning labels, the the same as products or places.
• What would yours say?
• What colour would it be?
• What would the icon or image be?

3. DISCUSSION QUESTION:
• Can people really express themselves through
their clothing and hair style?

4. WHY ARE WE COMPELLED TO EXPRESS
OURSELVES TO THE PUBLIC?

5. WHAT IS THE POINT OF SCHOOL UNIFORMS?
•Is obedience a
virtue?
• Think-pair-share:
What are the benefits
of a school uniform?
•Is rebellion a
virtue?

6. ON YOUR HANDOUT:
•Make a list of the connotations that come to mind from
the word punk:

7. READ THE POEM
• Read the poem, ‘For Heidi
With Blue Hair’ our loud with
a partner switching speakers
at each stanza
• Answer the comprehension
questions

8. FOR HEIDI WITH BLUE HAIR
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
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.
Tears in the kitchen, telephone-calls
to school from your freedom-loving father:
‘She’s not a punk in her behaviour;
it’s just a style.’ (You wiped your eyes,
also not in a school colour.)
‘She discussed it with me first –
we checked the rules.’ ‘And anyway, Dad,
it cost twenty-five dollars.
Tel them it won’t wash out –
not even if I wanted to try.
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.
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.

9. POST READING
DISCUSSION:
What are the main themes in the poem?
• death
• loss
• grief
• rebellion
• independence
• family
• obedience
• authority
• loyalty

10. LITERARY DEVICES
• What literary device(s) did you
identify in the poem?
• Use the table from your handout to
write 3 complete sentences
articulating the effects each use of
imagery has on the overall poem.
• Hint: What do the uses of imagery reveal about
Heidi? How do they help the reader develop
empathy?

12. THE POET’S STYLE
For Heidi
with Blue
Hair
Individuality versus
conformity
Friendship and
solidarity
Relationship between father and
daughter
Unsympathetic portrayal
of school staff
Tells a story
Uses conversational
language/dialogue
Underlying sense of
grief
Conflict over school
rule
Uses ‘battle’ metaphor to suggest
individuality wins over conformity