kris dad essay hing

‘Daddy’

A poem in which the poet creates a picture of a corrupt figure is “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath. The poem reflects on her life with her father and the relationship they had. The lack of stability in their relationship leads to a rift between them which can never be resolved after his death.

“In which I have lived like a foot
For thirty years, poor and white,
Barely daring to breathe or Achoo”

The opening stanza to the poem is the first sign that the figure of her dad is corrupt as she has had to live her life in the shadow of her father’s image/memory. The title of the poem and the first stanza are totally in contrast as the title makes us think the poem will be about her dad and will praise him whereas the first stanza describes him as evil and an oppressor as she is so scared she can’t even breath in his presence. This is very effective as it completely shocks the reader as their first views of the poem they have made by the title are completely abolished. The figure of “Daddy” becomes more corrupt as the poem goes on.

“I have always been scared of you…
And your neat moustache
And your Aryan-eye, bright blue”

In this stanza we have a direct confession from the daughter that she was scared of her father which is shocking as he should be the one person that she really loves in this world over anyone else but she is scared of him and frightened being around him which is not normal of a father daughter relationship. This shows how corrupt the father is as he scares his daughter into hating him. Also, she compares him directly to Hitler, one of the most evil and corrupt men in history which makes us question the point of view that we are given of the father as comparing him to Hitler is very strong and even over-exaggerated.


“Bit my pretty red heart in two
I was ten when they buried you…
And get back, back, back to you”

This stanza compares her father to a vampire which is perceived as being predatory. Also vampires drain the life and energy from their victims which in this case is Sylvia. This gives the idea that “Daddy” got his energy from his daughter by sucking her life from her. Vampires are also a sign of the devil and of complete evil which refers back to the corrupt figure of her father with no remorse for her daughter or for her feelings.

Sylvia Plath creates an effective corrupt figure not only by using text like above but also by using different imagery in her poem.

“Not god but a swastika
So black no sky could squeak through”

Through the poem the poet uses a lot of Nazi and vampire imagery. The first two lines of this stanza use Nazi imagery to compare her father to a swastika, one of the most evil symbols in the world to date. This shows she feels she is the victim in their relationship and that her father is the persecutor/oppressor. She also says her dad is so evil that no good can penetrate through this evil cloak he seems to wear.

“The vampire who said he was you
And drank my blood for a year”

Also, she uses vampire imagery to illustrate the evil that her dad possessed. By using vampire imagery we get the idea that the poem is fantasy as vampires are imaginary but it gives us the view that the dad might not be sucking her blood but her love for him and her happiness. Also it could mean that she never saw her father that much as vampires are only seen when the sun goes down as.

By using these different imageries we get the idea that he is a very evil man who instead of not being able to go into the sun he cannot cope with love and happiness. Also he seems to wear a cloak or a shield which does not allow good to penetrate his outer darkness.

The last technique Sylvia Plath uses to show the corruption of “Daddy” is her tone through the poem. In the beginning she adopts a loving tone towards him as she looks up to him and idolises him “Ghastly statue”. As the poem progresses the tone becomes angry and finally hatred.

“Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through”

The last line of the poem shows hate towards her father as she calls him a bastard and can no longer live the way she has been living, obsessing over him even after he has died and thinking about him all the time. This shows that she loses all respect and lover for her father by the end of the poem and carries the view that he is a vampire and drained the last of her love for him.

“Daddy” by Sylvia Plath is a very complex poem with all of the hidden meanings and the different ways we can look at what she says. The most successful technique that the poet uses is imagery. By comparing her dad to Hitler, a Swastika, Vampires and to Nazi’s this shows just how evil and corrupt his figure is. Being one of these things is evil but being composed of them all is a sign of pure evil. Through the poem we see that growing up she was scared of him and felt persecuted from him. Through this poem we see how family relationships are not always simple and that they can be really complex.