Daughters' Bereavement

Most modern and contemporary poets recall their childhood encounters with their parents

Most modern and contemporary poets recall their childhood encounters with their parents, especially their father, as either positive or negative. However, in some ways, the poet remembers their childhood life with a father who expressed love and devotion, while others remember hate and hard life. The poem "Daddy" is composed of approximately sixteen stanzas, each of five verses.

The beginning of the poem

The poem begins with the line “You do not do, you do not do” (Plath, 01), and the poet describes herself as a foot living in a black shoe for the last thirty years. Additionally, she feels too shy and nervous to either sneeze or breath (Plath, 03-04). The song talks about the life of a young lady who adores and wishes her father would have been alive to show him how much she loved him. The love she had for her father makes her feel sorrowful and regretful for the early death of her father; who died when she was eight years and never got the time to share the sentiment. Furthermore, the poet says Daddy I have had to kill you, and you died before I had time (Plath, 6-7).

Reflections on childhood with the father

The Poet reflects on her life during her childhood with her father who had long died before she thanked her for everything she did for her. The persona tries to identify her audience as fathers in the poem who she offers advice to provide love and affection to their daughters to because without that love they miss a lot. The love of dads to their daughters is significant in improving the life of a girl child and self-esteem. The poet’s unfortunate events in her life like the death of her father greatly affected her development and makes her grieve his death thirty years later. For instance, the poet says “and a love of the rack and the screw. And I said I do, I do” (Plath, 66-67).

The combination of mythical and personal experiences

The poem “Daddy” is one of the efforts of Plath Sylvia to combine the mythical and personal experiences of life. The poet manages to bring out the cutting edge which cuts through the mind and heart of the reader. The poets unsetting coupled with a weird rhyme of the personal division and unrestrained fit of displeasure aimed at her dad and husband affects the tone of the poem. The narrator is a victim who ends up in various strange places throughout the poem such as in a sack, black shoe, trains among other locations drawn in the poem. The Poem “Daddy is full of some troubling imagery, and that is why most poets and readers have denoted it as the Guernica of modern poetry.

The poet's description of her father

The poet insists that she wished to kill him herself. However, she died sooner than the poet could do it herself. The poet describes her father as heavy, just like “bag full of God” (Plath, 08). Additionally, she proclaims her father look like a statute having a big gray toe and its head immersed in the Atlantic Ocean (Plath, 09-11). Furthermore, the grief she has makes her pray for her father’s return years later and goes further to give some German expressions of sadness and sorrow that translates to mean “oh you” “Ach, du” (Plath, 14-15).

Surreal metaphors and symbolism

The poet knew her dad came from one of the Polish towns confronted with wars, because of her fears about the subject of war she never reveals his father’s hometown (Plath, 23). The poet uses some surreal metaphors, allegory and symbolism spread all over the scenes from her childhood and a significant dark cinematic language borrowing from a nursery as well as song lyric. Very often she uses the term “German” which reveals that her father was from Germany country who may have used the language to communicate with the poet during her childhood life (Plath, 16).

Imagery and language throughout the poem

Furthermore, the poet uses the sound of steam-locomotive throughout her poem. For instance, “choo choo –oo oo, screw, gobbledygoo” these repeated words and terms provide the poem with mesmerizes and energy to build up the image of train moving through “chuffing” to its final destination. In each of the verses, the poet uses a broad range of imagery language to bring out her theme and message to her audience. For instance, in stanza five: The narrator reports the father as “you” this is a direct tactic meant to bring the reader and audience nearer to the action. “I never could have talked to you” (Plath, 22) portrays the real feeling of the poet after her father passed on. The poet is giving a hint to the lack of instability, communication, and paralysis between the two. Additionally, it is important to note using a style where lines end with two, you and you help the train to build up its momentum.

A controversial work of art

In a nutshell, the poem “Daddy” is a successful work of shadowy art as it helps the reader to have a flashback at the author's real life building up through imagery, symbolism, and metaphors. However, she never makes it confessional to her audience. Therefore, this is one reason why I disagree with those criticizers who claim the poem is a selfish, revenge and an immature outburst poem. The expression of such feelings and pain calls for courage from the poet.