Daddy is a poem by Sylvia Plath. In the poem, Plath compares her dead father to a Nazi and an abuser. Daddy is a haunting and disturbing poem that reflects on Plath’s difficult relationship with her father.
Daddy was published posthumously in 1965, after Plath committed suicide. The poem is one of the most famous and controversial pieces of poetry written in the 20th century. Daddy has been interpreted as a feminist poem, due to its exploration of power dynamics between men and women. Daddy is also considered a key work in the Confessional poetry movement.
In Daddy, Sylvia Plath exposes herself. She employs strong imagery and forceful language to portray her feelings about her late father, Otto Plath, and her husband, Ted Hughes, who also wounded her in the end. Her tone implies a deep loathing and repulsion for both men. Plath details her relationship with and guilt, fear, and hurt caused by her father’s death. Plath employed imagery extensively in Daddy to illustrate her feelings.
She also uses religious symbols such as the Holocaust and references to Nazi Germany to show how Daddy controlled her.
Throughout the poem, she casts her father in various shapes. Plath’s images of her father are compared to God, a Nazi, the Devil, and a vampire. All of these symbols are strong on their own but when they’re combined they become overwhelming and frightening. The speaker’s recollections of her father were god-like to her at first.
You couldn’t see him with your eyes, but you could feel his presence. You were never alone in the woods; he would always be there for you. He was a gentle and kind person (1).
I had this hallucination that my mother came back to me at night and said she loved me (2) before going to bed as usual like nothing happened between us anymore than usual because it didn’t! It was just something that happens all the time especially when it is disturbing or frightening thing or event then telling someone about that emotion or experience what we call “reporting” them on their feelings you weren’t able to see him with your eyes, yet you felt his presence. He’d always be there for you in the woods.
The speaker then transitions into describing her father as a Nazi. This could be because Nazis were a powerful and terrible force during World War II. They were in control and had all the power. The speaker says that her father was Aa mean, red Daddy(29).
This Daddy is completely different from the Daddy at the beginning of the poem. He is no longer some great and powerful being, but someone to be feared. The final image of her father that the speaker uses is that of a vampire. Vampires are known to be bloodthirsty and dangerous creatures.
They are often associated with death and darkness. The speaker says that her father was Aa black man(33) who drank up her blood(34). This image is the most frightening of all. It shows that her father was not only dangerous, but he also had a hold on her. He was able to control her and make her into someone she didn`t want to be.
Sylvia Plath’s poem “Daddy” is a powerful and frightening look at her relationship with her father. Plath uses images of God, the Devil, a Nazi, and a vampire to describe her father in different ways. Each image is powerful on its own, but together they create an image of a man who is almost too much to handle.
The poem speaks to the speaker’s feelings of anger and betrayal towards her father, and how those feelings have changed over time. Daddy is a complex and disturbing poem that will leave readers thinking about the relationships between parents and children.
Plath’s father was unattainable because he had died while she was still a youngster. She was weary of dealing with her abandonment issues and eager to get rid of the dominating memory of her deceased father. This may be observed in the poem’s opening line, where you do not do, you do not do And any more, black shoe In which I have lived like a foot (1-3). Plath is attempting to exorcise the memory of her father for good. Then Plath compares herself to a Jew and paints her father as a Nazi. This helps explain how she feels that she is a victim.
She also says Daddy, I have had to kill you. You died too long ago for me Daddy, I have had to kill you. / Daddy, Daddy, you bastard, I’m through (23-26). This could be interpreted in a few ways but it seems that she is saying that she has killed him in her mind and is no longer going to allow him to control her. Daddy is a complicated poem with many different interpretations. Plath could be seen as being angry at her father, trying to come to terms with his death, or both. Daddy is a poem that will leave readers thinking long after they finish reading it.
Plath’s poem All the Blue Trees on Long Island is about a childhood memory of going to visit her grandparents, who owned a summer home in New York. The climactic moment occurs when she walks away from him, having realized that marriage would be too confining for both of them (29).
The Daddy poem is an interesting one. Sylvia Plath was obviously very hurt by her father’s death, and she used this poem as a way to express her pain. The poem is full of anger and resentment towards her father, but there is also a sense of forgiveness and understanding. In the end, Plath seems to have come to terms with her father’s death and can finally move on.
It is certainly not a stretch to imagine that MS. Hughes may have been inspired by her own father’s death when she found out that he had died, and began working on this poem. It is possible it was an attempt to bring back her father or something she did during the grieving process to try to cope with his early death.
In line 67, AI do, I do implies that she was not simply married Ted Hughes but also married to the memory of her father. The poem can be roughly divided into two halves. The first eight stanzas are easily connected with her father, whereas the final eight stanzas focus on Ted Hughes as a husband rather than being introduced.
Right off the bat in the poem, Daddy is personified as a Nazi. He has a big black boot and a Mein Kampf book. This could easily be seen as her way of saying that he was mean, unyielding, and unforgiving. The rest of the stanzas in Daddy are very dark and morose. She speaks about how her husband now fills the role that her father once did.
The first eight stanzas of Daddy are full of images of Sylvia Plath’s dead father. In these stanzas, she creates a picture of him as a cruel and heartless man. She portrays him as a Nazi, with a “big black boot” and a “Mein Kampf” book. She also speaks of him as a “ghastly statue” and a “bag full of God.” These images create a picture of a man who is cold, hard, and unforgiving.
The last eight stanzas of Daddy are devoted to Sylvia Plath’s husband, Ted Hughes. In these stanzas, she paints a picture of him as a kind and loving man. She speaks of him as a “savior” and a “life-giver.” These images create a picture of a man who is warm, caring, and forgiving. Daddy is a poem that is full of dark and light images. It is clear that Sylvia Plath was struggling with the memory of her dead father when she wrote this poem.