Iona ( cnt find any discs 2 put this on!!)

“Daddy”
By Sylvia Plath

“Daddy” by Sylvia Plath is a poem which Plath wrote long after the death of her father, so she could convey her feelings towards him.
The poem as a whole is written in quite a childish manner. “Daddy” is a childish form of endearment, and throughout the poem she uses words which are rather juvenile, such as “achoo” and “gobbledygoo.” This suggests that she is still stuck in the past, when her father died.
During the poem, Plath contradicts herself to a certain extent. In some lines it is apparent she loves her father dearly, whilst in others it seems she hates him. In the second stanza she says “Daddy, I have had to kill you.” She means that she has killed off his memory. This isn’t a usual part of mourning for anyone who has lost a father, and this suggests their relationship wasn’t great. However, in the third stanza, Sylvia Plath goes on to say “I used to pray to recover you. Ach, du.” This suggests that she didn’t always dislike her father as much as she did when she wrote the poem, in fact, quite the contrary. It suggests that, despite all his faults, she still loved him, and she wanted him back with her. Also, the use of the German “Ach, du,” meaning ‘Oh, You’ is also a form of endearment. It shows her love again, and the fact she speaks German shows that she doesn’t hate everything about her father.
It is evident too that Plath needed her father after he died. “You died before I had time.” This suggests that she never really got the chance to get to know her father, and she is quite resentful for that.
In a way, Sylvia Plath idolises her father. She describes him as ‘god’ and as a “Ghastly statue.” These both show her admiration for him, but she doesn’t really convey them in a positive way. She gives a feeling, that he was a figure of high ground, but for all the wrong reasons.
Plath conveys the idea that she feels suffocated by her father. “Ich, Ich, Ich, Ich. I could hardy speak.” Ich is the German for I and this sounds like she is choking or even suffocating.
The seventh stanza of the poem is, I think, the most interesting. “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 way Plath suggests herself to be a Jew is just completely shocking. This shows that she feels persecuted, and even suggests that her relationship with her father was like living in a concentration camp.




Later, Plath goes on to compare her father to Hitler. “with your Luftwaffe, your gobbledygoo.” This comparison is unbelievable because you can’ really get two people who are more different than Hitler and a Jew. This shows the divides between Plath and her father.
Towards the end of the poem, Plath seems to grow angrier, and her tone changes. “No god but a swastika.” She is no longer saying her father is god, but she is saying he is a swastika, the symbol everyone in the world associates with evil. However, she goes on to say “Every woman adores a facist.” This shows that despite everything, she does still love him. Another part of the poem that shows this is when she says “At twenty I tried to die, and get back, back, back to you.” This shows Plath’s desperation to know her father.
The poem finishes with the line “Daddy, Daddy, you bastard, I’m through.” This line shows that Plath is over all the feelings of wanting her father back. She has put him to rest, once and for all, after a very long time of dedicating her life to his memory.
This whole poem is written with a rhythm which is quite unusual, but it works incredibly well. The way Plath uses German and English throughout the poem makes it interesting too. Also, the way Plath can’t make up her mind about how she feels for her father makes it a much more heart wrenching read. In the end you really feel for her because of her continual confusion and the way she is incapable of hating her father completely.