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.
Carol Ann Duffy, 1993
HAVISHAM
BY
CAROL ANN DUFFY
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).
SUMMARY
OF
POEM:
She begins by telling the reader the cause of her troubles - her phrase
“beloved sweetheart bastard” is a contradiction in terms (called an
oxymoron). She tells us that she has prayed so hard (with eyes closed and
hands pressed together) that her eyes have shrunk hard and her hands
have sinews strong enough to strangle with - which fits her murderous
wish for revenge. (Readers who know Dickens' novel well might think at
this point about Miss Havisham's ward, Estella - her natural mother,
Molly, has strangled a rival, and has unusually strong hands.)
Miss Havisham is aware of her own stink - because she does not ever
change her clothes nor wash. She stays in bed and screams in denial. At
other times she looks and asks herself “who did this” to her? She
sometimes dreams almost tenderly or erotically of her lost lover, but
when she wakes the hatred and anger return. Thinking of how she
“stabbed at the wedding cake” she now wants to work out her revenge on
a “male corpse” - presumably that of her lover.
STRUCTURE:
The poem is written in four stanzas which are unrhymed. Many of the
lines run on, and the effect is like normal speech. The poet
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.
Havisham
by Carol Ann Duffy
Questions:
1. Why does the poet omit Miss Havisham's title and
refer to her by her surname only?
2. Why does the poet write “spinster” on its own? What
does Miss Havisham think about this word and its
relevance to her?
3. What is the effect of “Nooooo” and “b-b-breaks”?
Why are these words written in this way?
4. What is the meaning of the image of “a red balloon
bursting”?
5. How far does the poet want us to sympathize with
Miss Havisham?
6. Does the reader have to know
Expectations to understand the poem?
about
Great
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?” How far does the poem
show that Miss Havisham is responsible for her own
misery, and how far does it support her feelings of
self-pity and her desire for revenge?
Alliteration of the plosive ‘b’
and d bitterness and
oxymoron
aggression
Conflict between love and hate
Beloved sweetheart bastard. Not a day since then
Dark
imagery
I haven’t wished him dead. Prayed for it
Religious imagery
So hard I’ve dark green pebbles for eyes,
Metaphor represents
her jealousy .and the
psychological damage
Ropes on the back of my hands I could strangle with.
Metaphor represents her
aging, as well as the years
spent ‘wringing her hands’ with
emotion / anger / nerves
Use of the model verb
One word sentence
stands out highlights
Observation of what she is now
(literally) – and a suggestion of
what was wrong (metaphorically)
with her to be dumped?
Isolation.
Spinster. I stink and remember. Whole days Neologism created to
Like an
represent the pain (no word
animal in pain
previously created to express)
in bed cawing Noooooo at the wall; the dress
Double meaning – the dress
trembles (personification), as if
Highlights
yellowing, trembling if I open the wardrobe, waiting to be put back away /
time
she trembles (literally) when
passed
looking at the clothes of her past
the slewed mirror, full-length, her, myself, who did this
Double meaning – past tense of ‘slay’ or a
dramatic change in position.
she is unable to identify herself –
‘he’ made her an ‘object’ and she
now fights to regain her identity.
Suggests psychologically she is
in a state of crisis. She is stuck
which can result in a kind of
madness.
End of rhetorical
question
Colour of deep red to purplebrown suggests old blood
which represents old wounds pain is so deep there is no language
available to describe it
to me? Puce curses that are sounds not words,
Conversational
Lost to her / also creates sexual
tone
imagery of body in her dreams
Some
nights
better,
the
lost
body
over
me,
The dream
continues
and the
love
making is
easy and
poetic –
she sees
‘him’ in her
Sleep.
my fluent tongue in his mouth in its ear
She tries to make him
the ‘object’
then down till I suddenly bite awake. Love’s
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)
Enjambment
Love’s hate oxymoron
Triple meaning – ‘white’ suggests
innocence, ‘white veil’ represents the
wedding, ‘veil’ represents in feminist terms
that she is concealing something
hate behind a white veil; a red balloon bursting
‘red’ suggests anger,
‘red balloon bursting’ is
a metaphor used to
express her
embarrassment (the veil
concealed this)
Short
‘Stabbed’ creates violent
sentence for
imagery / ‘stabbed at a
effect – also
wedding-cake’ shows literally
in
my
face.
Bang.
I
stabbed
at
a
wedding-cake,
represents
and anger and metaphorically
the shock
shows her opinion on marriage
she
experienced Give me a male corpse for a long slow honeymoon.
Use of the
imperative Don’t think it’s only the heart that b-b-b-breaks.
verb
Use of plosive ‘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
Use of dark imagery,
reference to death links
to idea that the
‘honeymoon’ would
provide the long painful
death she wants
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?
Enjambment, metaphor, simile, oxymoron, dark
imagery, dramatic monologue, alliteration
• How effective is the poem for the reader?
Practice Essay Questions
Answers to questions on poetry should address relevantly the central
concern(s)/theme(s) of the text(s) and be supported by reference to
appropriate poetic techniques such as: imagery, verse form, structure,
mood, tone, sound, rhythm, rhyme, characterisation, contrast, setting,
symbolism, word choice . . .
1. Choose a poem which explores the pain of love or the pleasure of love
or the power of love.
Show how the poet’s exploration deepens your understanding of the
pain or the pleasure or the power of love.
2. Choose a poem which features a complex character.
Show how the complexity of the character is presented and discuss
how significant this aspect of characterisation is to the impact of the
poem.
3. Choose a poem which seems to you to be critical of a person or a point
of view.
Discuss how effectively this criticism is presented by the poet.
4. Choose two poems in which differing stances are adopted on the same
subject.
Show how the stances are revealed and discuss which treatment you
find more effective.