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Sylvia Plath 'Daddy'

"Daddy" is a poem written by Sylvia Plath shortly before her death. It was written on October 12, 1962 and published in Ariel [1] in 1965. Critics have viewed the poem as a response to Plath's complicated relationship with her father, Otto Plath, who died shortly after she had turned eight as a result of diabetes [2]. Plath's vivid use of imagery and controversial use of the Holocaust as a metaphor contributes to the popularity of the poem.

A Fragment of "Daddy"

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.

Sylvia Plath

Daddy, I have had to kill you.

You died before I had time——

Marble-heavy, a bag full of God,

Ghastly statue with one gray toe

Big as a Frisco seal

And a head in the freakish Atlantic

Where it pours bean green over blue

In the waters off beautiful Nauset.

I used to pray to recover you.

Ach, du.

In the German tongue, in the Polish town

Scraped flat by the roller

Of wars, wars, wars.

But the name of the town is common.

My Polack friend

Says there are a dozen or two.

So I never could tell where you

Put your foot, your root,

I never could talk to you.

The tongue stuck in my jaw.

Structure, Rhyme and Rhythm

“Daddy” is written in free verse quintains. Although it does not have a regular rhyme scheme, Plath does use end and internal rhyme. The last two lines of stanza 10 for example:

The boot in the face, the brute Brute heart of a brute like you.

.

The oo sound is quite overwhelming and places great emphasis on the cruel feel towards Plath’s father behind the poem.

The same way in which there is no regular rhyme scheme throughout the poem, there is no regular rhythm either. However, iambic verse is present in some lines. The most obvious line is,

You ‘ ‘ ‘ do’ ‘ ‘ not ‘ ‘ ‘ do,’ ‘ ‘ you ‘ ‘ ‘ do ‘ ‘ ‘ not ‘ ‘ ‘ do ‘ ‘ ‘ .

This lifts the feel of the poem but at the same time does not take away the seriousness of the tone. The “oo” sound and the reference to the father reinforce the childish relationship between ‘daddy’ and daughter. The poem consists of short lines, hard sounds and repetition such of rhymes, such as “Jew”, “do” and “you”. The childish figure in relation to the authoritative father figure is further reinforced as the words are made to sound like a child speaking. However, this child like rhythm is also made to have a sinister feel to it almost as if an evil chant is being read.