Looking at Poetry through a Literature Lens

For your blog post this week, please read the following poem "Havisham" by Carol Ann Duffy and choose up to three questions to respond to

Also, remember to respond to at least two of your classmates' blogs!  We are going to use these questions and comments as a jumping off point for our class discussion next week.

Background:

This poem is a monologue spoken by Miss Havisham, a character in Dickens' Great Expectations. Jilted by her scheming fiancé, she continues to wear her wedding dress and sit amid the remains of her wedding breakfast for the rest of her life, while she plots revenge on all men. She hates her spinster state - of which her unmarried family name constantly reminds her (which may explain the choice of title for the poem).

HAVISHAM

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.

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

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 bite awake. Love’s

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.

Structure:

The poem is written in four stanzas which are unrhymed. Many of the lines run on, and the effect is like normal speech. 

• uses many adjectives of colour - “green”, “puce”, “white” and “red” and
• lists parts of the body “eyes”, “hands”, “tongue”, “mouth”, “ear” and “face”.

Sometimes the meaning is clear, but other lines are more open - and there are hints of violence in “strangle”, “bite”, “bang” and “stabbed”. It is not clear what exactly Miss Havisham would like to do on her “long slow honeymoon”, but we can be sure that it is not pleasant.

Questions:

1. Why does Miss Havisham use the word "spinster" to describe herself? Is she belittling herself by using such a derogatory term? Or is there a way in which this makes her stronger?  What does Miss Havisham think about this word and its relevance to her?
2. What is the effect of all of Duffy's enjambments?  (If you don't know the meaning of this word, be sure to look it up!) Why does she break the lines of the poem so seemingly haphazardly?

 3. Why does the poet omit Miss Havisham's title and refer to her by her surname only?

4. What is the effect of “Nooooo” and “b-b-breaks”? Why are these words written in this way?

5. What is the meaning of the image of “a red balloon bursting”?  What is the effect of the visual color words mentioned above?  What is the effect of Duffy's use of parts of the body? 

6.   Does the reader have to know about Great Expectations to understand the poem?  Explain your reasoning.

7.   Does Miss Havisham have a fair view of men? What do you think of her view of being an unmarried woman?

8.   Perhaps the most important part of the poem is the question “who did this/to me?” According to this poem, is Miss Havisham responsible for her own misery? How far does it support her feelings of self-pity and her desire for revenge?

A Crash Course in Great Expectations and Charles Dickens

As we begin our study of Charles Dickens and his Victorian masterpiece Great Expectations, we must become at least a bit familiar with both the life and times of this amazing man.  Your blog comments this week will get you thinking about Dickens and his times as well as some of the themes and topics in the novel.

Please watch the following YouTube clips, take notes and answer the following questions:

• What are three interesting facts you learned about Charles Dickens?
• Why did you find those facts to be the most interesting? Explain your reasoning.
• What was life like during the Victorian Era?  

In order to start thinking about your life in terms of some of the themes in the novel, please also answer the following questions in your blog post:

• In 19th century England, many children had to work.  Imagine you had to work every day instead of going to school, how would your life change?
• What are some your ambitions and expectations for your life?
• Imagine you receive a large sum of money (say $5,000) every month.  What would you do with it?  Do you think the money would change your way of life and/or your personality?  If so, how?