Sylvia Plath's Poem Daddy

Sylvia Plath's Poem Daddy

Plath expressed a feminist point of view in her poems, She was not a

very radical feminist, but she did show her rage against men in her

works. In "Daddy", Plath expresses her feelings about her family, and

the prominent male figures in her life: Sylvia Plath's father Otto

Emil Plath, and her husband Ted Hughes. The title itself sounds

feminine. This poem is divided into two parts. The first part, which

lasts from the first to the ninth stanza, is a brief memorandum of

Plath's father, and her gradual acceptance of his death. There are

many German/Nazi imageries in the poem, which indicate his German

origin. In the second part (tenth to eleventh stanzas) Sylvia Plath

mixes up her father and husband as one "daddy", and expresses her fear

and hatred to the two important men in her life. Besides fear and

hatred, this poem also reveals Plath's insecurity in her mind.

At the beginning of the poem Plath talks directly to her subject, "You

do not do, you do not do/Any more, Black shoe/In which I have lived

like a foot/For thirty years, poor and white, /Barely daring to

breathe or Achoo." The uselessness of the black shoe is a reference to

her father's amputated leg due to undiagnosed diabetes: Years earlier

Otto Plath was convinced of his self-diagnosis of lung cancer. He

refused to seek medical care due to a lack of efficient treatment at

that time. It was later that he decided to go see a doctor for an

infection in his foot. His death became a loss that Sylvia Plath would

always feel. Foot, the bearer of weight of the body, is a metaphor of

the feelings that weighs down Sylvia Plath's mind, being unable to

ex...

... middle of paper ...

...rd, I'm through."

It remains doubtful if Plath had really got "thorough" her father (or

husband.) "Daddy", indeed, is her resentment of being unable to get

"through" her fear and idolization of father/husband. It is a record

of how her feelings of these two important male figures in her life

turn from admiration to hatred and disgust. The poem contains great

amount of imageries that can be subjected to various interpretations.

Bibliography

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Sylvia Plath. Ariel. 1st ed. New York: HarperPerennial, 1999

Sylvia Plath. 4 Sep. 2001. The Academy of American Poets. 30 Oct.

2004.

Sylvia Plath. Neurotic Poets. 30 Oct. 2004.

Short Biography. Sylvia Plath homepage. 30 Oct. 2004.