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Literary Criticism: “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath.

This work was completed on 12th October 1962. It is an emotive, 16-stanza poem that narrates and expresses the poet’s internal anguish. It is believed that the persona is also the poet due to the close similarities between the situations depicted in the symbols-rich poem and the real-life case of Sylvia Path. This literary analysis will examine the piece of work from a formalistic and a feministic point of view.

The poem begins with the sound “oo” ending each but one line of the first stanza. The poet immediately sets the tone for the rest of the poem. “You do not do, you do not do” (Plath, line 1) the repetition in the first line is perhaps for emphasis on the finality of the persona’s decision to divorce herself of the person referred to as the black shoe. Her experiences with the person have caused her great misery and limited her expression. The person is later observed to be the father who the persona is forced to eliminate from her consciousness. She defines him as a man of great consequence, with an idealistic mindset from the line she calls him “Marble-heavy, a bag full of God” (Plath, line 8). The poet continually gives us details regarding her father and why she has felt the need to cut him off from her life even though he died previously.

In the third stanza, she attempts to describe how far “daddy” had extended his sphere of influence: “And a head in the freakish Atlantic” (Plath, line 11). I take this metaphor that her daddy is a symbol of the male gender and the role it has played in her suffering. The last line is “Ach du” (Plath, line 15), translated as "Oh you," which may be interpreted as a hint of regret that she used to pray the men in her life. She begins the fourth stanza by giving us the hidden origins of her daddy: A polish town that has been subjected to many war experiences, including by her father. She also describes how her inability to speak in German to her father has added to the resentment she has of him. In life, her father also lost his individuality to her: She expressly states that she associated her father with every other German. Plath slowly develops a strong case for the reader to understand why she feels she can no longer associate with certain men.

In stanza seven, the persona uses a holocaust metaphor for two purposes: To show her extreme suffering at the hands of a male figure in her life, the Germans, and to initiate a claim that continues to support that she is a Jew. The collective metaphor here, I feel, is excessive as the persona’s tribulations are so far pale in comparison to the systematic persecution of the Jewish people. The eighth stanza continues in this vein with the poet who I now feel is also the persona, laying stronger claim to be a Jew. She states that she is a descendant of a gypsy (the first reference to the persona being female), and she is a tarot card occultist "And my Taroc pack and my Taroc pack" (Plath, line 39). The opening line is probably her alluding to the fact that she is not a purebred Aryan, as she or others may have believed.

Stanza nine uses obvious metaphors to describe her fear of her father or male oppressors, and their use of violence and war. For instance, they are own a panzer and the Luftwaffe (the dreaded German air force of the Second World War). She also describes his (or their) facial features that they venerated. She then describes the symbols of their war campaigns: the swastika. She is attributing the destruction caused by the Germans in the war to men: A fact that cannot be entirely true. There is a line, "Every woman adores a Fascist" (Plath, line 48) that requires much attention. I feel she could be stating that women are so dominated by men they are forced like them. It would be consistent with the use of capital "F."

Perhaps she recognizes that her father was infallible just like any other human being: She admits she still has his picture before going off on the man who smote her heart but is worse than her father. She explains this much better in stanza twelve when she confesses her intent to commit suicide at the age of twenty to be reunited with her father. However, she decides to get attached to a man who reminded her of her father as much as possible. Her marriage opens a can of worms for her, and she feels her internal turmoil is coming to ahead. She feels so disconnected that she is addressing her father for support after she has vilified him. I feel that this part makes the poem poignant especially the line "So daddy, I’m finally through" (Plath, line 69 )

Fittingly, the next stanza starts with her stating she has “killed” of the other man in her life who is an imitation of her father by "killing" her father. He has been a parasite on her life for a long time. Here, she uses the word blood to represent her life. She then ends her dialogue with her father and ends her association with him ultimately. She ends the poem by finally acknowledging that her life choices have probably arisen as a result of the memories of her father who she might have adored, and now that he is figuratively dead to her, she can feel a sense of triumph.

In conclusion, the poem is a marvelous piece. The poet chronicles her battles with depression in a nuanced and obvious way. At the same time, it provides means to vent her frustrations with the men in her life who have caused her strife.

Works Cited

Plath, Sylvia. Daddy. na, 1962.