1. Havisham
By Carol Ann Duffy

2. Monologue Creates a persona
Miss Havisham – character from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens – jilted on her wedding day by her fiancée.

3. Beloved sweetheart bastard. Not a day since then
Alliteration of `b’ and `p’ sound
suggests ANGER
I.E. the wedding
day
OXYMORON
SUGGESTS
LOVE/HATE
Beloved sweetheart bastard. Not a day since then
I haven`t wished him dead. Prayed for it
so hard I`ve dark green pebbles for eyes,
ropes on the back of my hands I could strangle with
Image suggests
hard and cruel
Enjambment: lines run over
Green for jealousy
Indicating her
Bitterness “the
Green-eyed monster –
Green like a monster.
Theme of violence
in poem – (compare with
Stealing/
Education for Leisure/
Hitcher)
Veins –
a metaphor

4. Spinster. I stink and remember. Whole days
Single word
Sentence – denotes
Her bitterness
i.e. because she has never
washed since her wedding
day
WORD EMPHASISES HER
GRIEF AND DESPAIR
Spinster. I stink and remember. Whole days
in bed cawing Nooooo at the wall; the dress
yellowing, trembling if I open the wardrobe;
the slewed mirror, full-length, her, myself, who did this
Image of a crow
“CAWING”
WITH AGE
AS THOUGH IT IS SOMEONE ELSE WHO HAS
DONE THIS. SHE CANT BELIEVE THAT THE
WOMAN IN THE MIRROR WOULD DO THIS.
SPLIT PERSONALITY? DISTURBED?
BROKEN/DESTROYED
(VIOLENCE?)

5. to me? Puce curses that are sounds not words.
Enjambment: lines run over
She cannot express her anger and
bitterness in proper words
(compare line 6)
to me? Puce curses that are sounds not words.
Some nights better, the lost body over me,
my fluent tongue in its mouth in its ear
Then down till I suddenly bit awake. Love`s
Sexual references to
Their relationship
VIOLENCE

6. hate behind a white veil; a red balloon bursting
oxymoron
Wedding dress/white
For virginity
VIOLENCE
hate behind a white veil; a red balloon bursting
in my face. Bang. I stabbed at a wedding cake.
Give me a male corpse for a long slow honeymoon.
Don`t think it`s only the heart that b-b-b-breaks.
Alliteration of `b’ and `p’ sound
suggests ANGER
She would rather have him dead than
have him reject her – shows how bitter
and twisted she is
Sobbing and suggests violence –
a veiled threat

7. She was dressed in rich materials - satins, and lace, and silks - all of white. Her shoes were white. And she had a long white veil dependent from her hair, and she had bridal flowers in her hair, but her hair was white. Some bright jewels sparkled on her neck and on her hands, and some other jewels lay sparkling on the table. Dresses, less splendid than the dress she wore, and half-packed trunks, were scattered about.

8. She had not quite finished dressing, for she had but one shoe on - the other was on the table near her hand - her veil was but half arranged, her watch and chain were not put on, and some lace for her bosom lay with those trinkets, and with her handkerchief, and gloves, and some flowers, and a prayer-book, all confusedly heaped about the looking-glass.

9. It was not in the first few moments that I saw all these things, though I saw more of them in the first moments than might be supposed. But, I saw that everything within my view which ought to be white, had been white long ago, and had lost its lustre, and was faded and yellow. I saw that the bride within the bridal dress had withered like the dress, and like the flowers, and had no brightness left but the brightness of her sunken eyes

10. . I saw that the dress had been put upon the rounded figure of a young woman, and that the figure upon which it now hung loose, had shrunk to skin and bone. Once, I had been taken to see some ghastly waxwork at the Fair, representing I know not what impossible personage lying in state. Once, I had been taken to one of our old marsh churches to see a skeleton in the ashes of a rich dress, that had been dug out of a vault under the church pavement. Now, waxwork and skeleton seemed to have dark eyes that moved and looked at me. I should have cried out, if I could.

11. `Havisham` by Carol Ann Duffy is a poem about violence
`Havisham` by Carol Ann Duffy is a poem about violence. Write about attitudes to violence in this poem, one poem by Simon Armitage and TWO from the pre-1914 bank. You should refer to:
Why they committed (or tried to commit) the violence
How they feel about their violent tendencies
How each speaker expresses these feelings

12. How each speaker expresses these feelings:
Havisham: alliteration, violent/powerful verbs, enjambment, oxymoron, metaphor
Hitcher: slang – casual language for violence
Laboratory: powerful verbs, alliteration
Man He Killed: colloquialisms, hesitation and repetition

13. Havisham
Technique
alliteration
“a red balloon bursting in my face.Bang”
Violent/powerful verbs
enjambment
oxymoron
metaphor