GCSE English Literature Section B: Poetry - Havisham

MUST: Read and understand the poem Havisham (D) SHOULD: Annotate the poem, identifying literary devices (C ) COULD: Evaluate the similarities and differences between the novel and the poem and identify the layers of meaning(B)

What do you think of…? Havisham?

Havisham Great Expectations Adopted a daughter Stood up on her wedding day Wanted to reek revenge on all mankind Stayed in her wedding dress for twenty years

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 Noooooo 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 his 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.

What can you infer and interpret? Annotate the text What can you infer and interpret?

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.

Note the lack of exclamation mark – she is serious and seemingly no longer angry? Alliteration of the blosive ‘b’ oxymoron 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. Dark imagery enjambement Religious imagery Metaphor represents her jealousy Use of the model verb Metaphor represents her aging, as well as the years spent ‘wringing her hands’ with emotion / anger / nerves

Spinster. I stink and remember. Whole days in bed cawing Noooooo at the wall; the dress yellowing, trembling if I open the wardrobe, the slewed mirror, full-length, her, myself, who did this

One word sentence stands out Observation of what she is now (literally) – and a suggestion of what was wrong (metaphorically) with her to be dumped? One word sentence stands out Spinster. I stink and remember. Whole days in bed cawing Noooooo at the wall; the dress yellowing, trembling if I open the wardrobe, the slewed mirror, full-length, her, myself, who did this Neologism created to represent the pain (no word previously created to express) The cry of a crow creates gothic imagery Double meaning – the dress trembles (personification), as if waiting to be put back away / she trembles (literally) when looking at the clothes of her past Highlights time passed Double meaning – past tense of ‘slay’ suggesting she has smashed the mirror in anger / also means drunk, suggesting she is unable to see her true reflection through the blur of alcohol Use of feminist reference to that of Julia Kristeva – she is unable to identify herself – ‘he’ made her an ‘object’ and she now fights to regain the ‘symbolic’ (myself)

to me? Puce curses that are sounds not words, Some nights better, the lost body over me, my fluent tongue in his mouth in its ear then down till I suddenly bite awake. Love’s

End of rhetorical question Colour of deep red to purple-brown suggests old blood which represents old wounds Suggests she no longer can access language to express her feelings – a feminist analysis explored by Caryl Churchill in The Skriker, where pain is so deep there is no language available to describe it End of rhetorical question to me? Puce curses that are sounds not words, Some nights better, the lost body over me, my fluent tongue in his mouth in its ear then down till I suddenly bite awake. Love’s Conversational tone Lost to her / also creates sexual imagery of body in her dreams The dream continues and the love making is easy and poetic – she sees ‘him’ She tries to make him the ‘object’ The act is ‘sudden’ to him in the dream and the suddenness wakes her – and us as the reader to the viciousness of the attack (or dreamed attack)

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.

hate behind a white veil; a red balloon bursting Triple meaning – ‘white’ suggests innocence, ‘white veil’ represents the wedding, ‘veil’ represents in feminist terms that she is concealing something ‘red’ suggests anger, ‘red balloon bursting’ is a metaphor used to express her embarrassment (the veil concealed this) Love’s hate - oxymoron 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. Short sentence for effect – also represents the shock she experienced ‘Stabbed’ creates violent imagery / ‘stabbed at a wedding-cake’ shows literally and anger and metaphorically shows her opinion on marriage Use of dark imagery, reference to death links to idea that the ‘honeymoon’ would provide the long painful death she wants Use of the imperative verb Use of blosive ‘b’ in a stuttering style, suggests the is breaking down again / she suggests that her life has broken as a result – not just her heart

Summarise what you now know about the poem: What is it about? (Content) What themes are covered? What tone does the poem have? What literary devices have been used? How effective is the poem for the reader?

Summarise what you now know about the poem: What is it about? A woman telling the tale of being stood up on her wedding day What themes are covered? Anger, revenge, hatred, death What tone does the poem have? Angry, aggressive, bitter What literary devices have been used? Enjambement, metaphor, simile, oxymoron, dark imagery How effective is the poem for the reader?