Daddy by Sylvia Plath summary and analysis

 

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 speaker addresses her father, and scolding at him. He was incapable of protecting her. She represents her childhood as a confined place. She never enjoyed the  flavour of freedom.

The opening stanza sets the tone for the poem, introducing themes of confinement, oppression, and the speaker's complex relationship with her father. The use of the shoe metaphor suggests a sense of entrapment and powerlessness, highlighting the speaker's feelings of being suffocated and controlled by her father's influence.

 

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

The speaker declares that she has metaphorically killed her father, symbolizing her desire to break free from his oppressive influence. She describes him as a heavy, imposing figure, likening him to a godlike presence with an overwhelming impact on her life.

Because of the excessive dominance of the father, she felt like killing him. The comparison of her father to a "ghastly statue" suggests his lifelessness and lack of empathy, reinforcing the image of him as an oppressive force in her life.

 

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.

The speaker imagines her father's head at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, symbolizing his absence and her longing for closure. She recalls praying for the recovery.

 

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

The speaker reflects on her father's heritage, He was a German. She associates the brutal act of German invasion over Poland. She expresses her abomination and antipathy towards Germany and her father together. She juxtaposes the violence of Germany and the intense fear towards her father.

This stanza introduces themes of cultural identity and heritage, exploring the speaker's complex relationship with her father's ancestry. The reference to war adds a layer of historical and political context, highlighting the impact of conflict on individual lives and identities.

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.

 

The speaker reflects on her inability to communicate with her father and understand his roots. She expresses frustration at their lack of connection and the emotional barriers that prevented them from truly communicating.

It focuses the breakdown of the father-daughter relationship. The speaker's inability to "tell where [her father] put [his] foot, [his] root" reflects her sense of alienation and estrangement from him. The image of the "tongue stuck in my jaw" suggests a physical and emotional detachment.

 

Stuck in a barb wire snare.

Ich, ich, ich, ich,

I could hardly speak.

I thought every German was you.

And the language obscene

The speaker describes feeling trapped and silenced, as if caught in a barbed wire snare. She recalls struggling to speak and associating the German language with her father, whom she hates most.

 

The repetition of "ich" (German for "I") emphasizes the speaker's sense of self-identity and the conflict between her individuality and her father's influence. The association of the German language with her father suggests a deep-seated resentment towards him, further complicating their relationship.

 

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 speaker recollects her experience of oppression and persecution to that of a Jew during the Holocaust. She adopts the identity of a Jew and identifies with the victims of Nazi concentration camps.

This stanza is highly controversial and has been subject to interpretation and criticism. The speaker's appropriation of Jewish identity and comparison of her own suffering to that of Holocaust victims has been viewed as insensitive and problematic. Some critics argue that Plath uses the Holocaust as a metaphor for her personal struggles with her father, while others argue that she trivializes the historical trauma of the Holocaust by equating it with her own experiences.

 

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—

The speaker confesses her fear of her father, associating him with Nazi imagery and ideology. She describes his appearance and demeanor with disdain, highlighting his authoritarian and oppressive nature.

the speaker confronts her father's authoritarianism and the fear he instilled in her. The references to the Luftwaffe (the German air force) and Nazi imagery evoke a sense of menace and danger, reinforcing the speaker's perception of her father as a threatening figure. The repetition of "panzer-man" (German for "tank man") further emphasizes his militaristic and domineering presence.

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.

The speaker rejects her father's authority and compares him to a fascist dictator. She criticizes the allure of authoritarianism and the power dynamics inherent in such relationships.

                   

The speaker's rejection of her father's authority is expressed through vehement imagery, as she compares him to a fascist dictator and criticizes the appeal of brute force and dominance. The reference to "every woman adores a Fascist" suggests a broader commentary on gender dynamics and the complexities of power and control in relationships.

 

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

The speaker describes a mental image of her father standing at a blackboard, suggesting his role as an authoritative figure or teacher. She acknowledges his flaws and compares him to a devil, emphasizing his negative impact on her life.

The reference to the cleft in his chin may symbolize his imperfections and humanity, while the comparison to a devil reinforces the speaker's perception of him as a malevolent force in her life.

 

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.

 

The speaker reflects on the emotional trauma caused by her father's death and her subsequent attempts to reunite with him in death. She describes her longing for her father, even in death, and her desire for reconciliation.

 

In this stanza, the speaker delves into the psychological impact of her father's death and her attempts to cope with her grief. The imagery of her heart being bitten in two suggests the depth of her emotional pain and the lasting scars left by her father's absence. The repetition of "back, back, back to you" emphasizes the speaker's longing for her father and her desire for reunion, even beyond the grave.

 

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

Here, she explains her recovery from the unsuccessful suicide and another figure came to her life like a hitler, another figure like her daddy.   The speaker describes her attempt to cope with her father's absence by creating a mental image of him. She compares this image to a Nazi figure, suggesting her father's authoritarian and oppressive nature.

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 by Sylvia Plath is often regarded as a typical confessional poem, a genre characterized by its deeply personal and autobiographical subject matter. Plath, known for her confessional style, draws heavily from her own life experiences and emotions in this poem.

Like many confessional poems, Daddy offers readers a glimpse into the poet's innermost thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Plath adopts a first-person narrative voice, blurring the lines between speaker and poet. The poem reads like a personal confession, as she daringly expresser her dark shades to the readers.

Plath infuses Daddy with autobiographical details drawn from her own life. The poem is widely interpreted as a reflection on Plath's tumultuous relationship with her father, Otto Plath, who died when she was only eight years old. Plath's use of specific imagery and references, such as the German language and Nazi imagery, further solidifies the autobiographical nature of the poem.

Confessional poetry is known for its raw emotional intensity, and Daddy is no exception. Plath's language is charged with anger, grief, longing, and defiance. The speaker's visceral expressions of pain and trauma resonate with readers, eliciting a powerful emotional response. Through her candid portrayal of personal suffering, Plath invites empathy and understanding from her audience.

Confessional poets often employ symbolic imagery and metaphorical language to convey their innermost thoughts and emotions. In Daddy, Plath uses rich symbolism, such as the metaphor of the father as a vampire or Nazi, to encapsulate the complexities of her relationship with her father and the psychological wounds it inflicted. These symbols serve as powerful medium for self-expression and exploration.