Write up of Sylvia Plath- Daddy

Sylvia Plath- 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.

Daddy, I have had to kill you.
You died before I had time-
Marble-heavy, a bag full of God,
Ghastly statue with one grey 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.

It stuck in a barb wire snare.
Ich, ich, ich, ich,
I could hardly speak.
I thought every German was you.
And the language obscene

An engine, an engine
Chuffing me off like a Jew.
A Jew to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen.
I began to talk like a Jew.
I think I may well be a Jew.

The snows of the Tyrol, the clear beer of Vienna
Are not very pure or true.
With my gipsy ancestress and my weird luck
And my Taroc pack and my Taroc pack
I may be a bit of a Jew.

I have always been scared of you,
With your Luftwaffe, your gobbledygoo.
And your neat mustache
And your Aryan eye, bright blue.
Panzer-man, panzer-man, O You-- 

Not God but a swastika
So black no sky could squeak through.
Every woman adores a Fascist,
The boot in the face, the brute
Brute heart of a brute like you.

You stand at the blackboard, daddy,
In the picture I have of you,
A cleft in your chin instead of your foot
But no less a devil for that, no not 
Any less the black man who

Bit my pretty red heart in two.
I was ten when they buried you.
At twenty I tried to die
And get back, back, back to you.
I thought even the bones would do.

But they pulled me out of the sack,
And they stuck me together with glue.
And then I knew what to do.
I made a model of you,
A man in black with a Meinkampf look

And a love of the rack and the screw.
And I said I do, I do.
So daddy, I'm finally through.
The black telephone's off at the root,
The voices just can't worm through.

If I've killed one man, I've killed two--
The vampire who said he was you
And drank my blood for a year,
Seven years, if you want to know.
Daddy, you can lie back now.

There's a stake in your fat black heart
And the villagers never liked you.
They are dancing and stamping on you.
They always knew it was you.
Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I'm through.

  Daddy is a confessional poem written by Sylvia Plath shortly before her death. It gives the readers glimpses from her life and the poem can be said to be symbolic. The tittle “Daddy” symbolises her father and Germany, its culture, people and the events that took place when the poem was written, ethnic cleansing and the killing of many people. As the poem begins, Plath uses the chanting of child-like lexis to introduce the poem.

''You do not do, you do not do'' 

This repetition of the same phrases over again, gives the sense of child like chanting. The idea of the lexis being child-like, expresses how Plath only saw her dad when she was a child, as he died when she was young and so growing up with her dad was not the situation. The lexis is almost like a nursery rhyme, as if to sing-along to the poem instead of it being the read of a poem.

  The speaker, Plath creates a figurative image of her father using varied metaphors to describe her relationship with him. She calls him like a black shoe that she had 'lived in'.

''In which I have lived like a foot

For thirty years''

The metaphor of Plath's father being a foot, expressing how she felt trapped when he was around. Her father was obviously a strict father of the 40's, made rules for Plath yet never treated her as if she was his friend as to never speak to her. The idea of being trapped gives the sense of the devil and being trapped in hell, as well as the colour imagery of the black shoe. 

  This sense of Plath's father not treating her as a 'friend' is further carried on as symbols of her childhood are used.

''Daddy, I have had to kill you'' 

Here, Plath uses a symbolic moment of her children, as children metaphorically 'kill ' their parents, as if to tire them out. Plath uses this metaphorical meaning to express how she made him feel, or how she thought she made him feel. Yet, he also literally died and so Plath could feel this was her fault, and so cleverly added this into 'daddy'.

  Plath has cleverly added in emotive language in her poem to express how she wanted a relationship with her father.

''I used to pray to recover you'' 

The use of personal pronouns in this line express that it is in fact the speaker, Plath, talking to her father, you, and so we can see the want of the relationship. Plath expresses how she wanted a relationship with her father, as she used to pray to recover him. In other words, when he has died she used to pray to create their relationship. 

  A father is someone who protects you and loves you, gives you guidance and advice, and is the one person you can always count on. But for some people a father is just that, a male parent; a person you barely know, or a person you have come to fear. Plath expresses this with the use of hierarchy in the 30's of which Plath, the speaker, grew up in. 

''I never could talk to you.''

The way in which Plath expresses that she could not talk to her father, the sense of the hierarchy in the 1930's of parents vs. children, as Plath was growing up. The idea of Plath not being able to speak to her father could also be seen because of the lack of the male parent, as he would be the breadwinner going out to work and Plath would not off seen him much because of this. 

  Plath's use of hyperbole in the poem, gives a strong sense of how she really felt about her father.

''I thought every German was you.''

The idea of Plath calling her father every German expresses the power which he held over her. As German's had a lot of power during this period. The hyperbole of 'every German' expresses how Plath recognises that her father was in fact a German, this more detail description of him explores his personality and lifestyle to the audience. 

  Another interesting part of the poem is where Plath, the speaker, describes herself as a victim, referring to herself as a Jew.

''I began to talk like a Jew.

I think I may well be a Jew.'' 

The speaker is not necessarily a Jew but she wants the reader to see the relationship she had with her father to be like the relationship between a Nazi (her father) and a Jew (herself). Plath has feeling as if she is a Jew, because of the love and hate relationship she has with her father. In the poem the speaker talks of revenge and killing her father and also killing her husband. The climactic part of the poem is the speaker finally telling her father that she is through with him.

  Again, the power and hierarchy of Plath's father is show cleverly in the poem, as she expresses the description of him.

''And you Aryan eye, bright blue.

Panzer-man, panzer-man, O You-'' 

The idea of the 'panzer-man' of which was a tank driver during wars and so would of carried weapons for opposing enemies, and in fact the enemies. This hierarchy of power explores how Plath feels about her father and his life, as he was not literally a tank driver, yet Plath explores his as one to express his authority. 

  Also, Plath furthermore describes her father of how she remembers him, although not always the best things about him.

''A cleft in your chin instead of your foot

But no less a devil for that, no not''

Plath explores the memory of her father as having a cleft in his chin, of which the devil has in his foot making a hoof. This idea of the cleft refers to the devil and how the devil is in fact human although unrecognisable, as which is why Plath explores this idea. Imagery of the devil linking to her father, creates a bad image of him as if she believed her father was the maker of sin and hell. 

  The juxtaposition of the poem explores the greats of the love and hate relationship between Plath and her father, threw the use of colour imagery.

''Any less the black man who

Bit my pretty red heart in two.''

The colour imagery is juxtaposed off each other as Plath explores the love and hate relationship between her and her father. Such imagery represents how Plath felt imprisonment as a result of her father’s dictatorial control over Plath and her desire to be free of such oppression. Yet, the disciplinary of her father was the cultural norm of the time period, as the father would act as the breadwinner and the disciplinarian.

  Without the poem all being about the relationship between Plath and her Father, there are also referances to some of the other poem's Plath has wrote.

''At twenty I tried to die

And get back, back, back to you.''

Here, Plath explores her second attempt at suicide, as she tries to get back to her father to create this relationship that she wants with him. However, this is also a referance back to the situation in Lady Lazarus as Plath speaks about committing suicide in both poems, both at the actual time in her life. 

  As the poem comes to an end, Plath introduces aspects of her husband and how she had fitted her husband arond the memories of her father. 

''I made a model of you,

A man in black with a Meinkampf look'' 

The poem gives off a very weary perception of Plath fighting emotionally to get away from the life of silence and abuse. And so, to make up of the absent Plath had an idea to find features of her father in her husband and this she did. She explores this idea as to describe her husband as a model of her father, with a Meinkampft look of which was book written by Hitler himself. All around her Plath is trying to convey the truth behind being trapped in a confined world, by comparing her experiences to Nazi Germany and the Jews.

  Another sense of Plath exploring her husband as a model of her father is threw the use of her choice of lexis. 

''And I said I do, I do.'' 

Plath uses her lexis her, to express her excitement of finding a man who could remind her as her father. The idea of the repetition shows the excitement in her voice, yet also expresses the sense of child-like lexis as to sound like chanting, again.

  Finally, in the poem's last stanza Plath expresses how she has given up with the finding of her relationship threw the body of someone else. 

''Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I'm through.'' 

The choice of lexis here again is important, as Plath uses taboo language in order to speak to her father threw the poem. This expresses how Plath now feels strong, and is standing up to her father as she never could do as a child. Here, she expresses how she is 'through' with her father, as to say in other words that she has giving up trying to create this relatioship with him. It is interesting that four months after this poem was written, Plath committed suicide.