ANALYZING THE DIFFERENT INTRINSIC ELEMENTS

“DADDY”
BY: SYLVIA PLATH

GROUP 2 :
ICHTIANUR MEILINDA F (4330016009)
FAUZIYAH TAHTA ALFINA (4330016007)
WARDAH LATIFA ISMIYATI (4330016015)
Structure
The structure to this poem and its page arrangement are
well balanced to the eye, consisting of 16 stanzas with
each stanza consisting of 5 lines. Plath deliberately chose
short lines when constructing the stanzas in order to
balance the structure of the poem, keep interest alive, to
intrigue and to force the reader to sense what she feels.
Rhytm
Rhythm is a very important part of this poem even though it
does not fall into a specific pattern. Each line has an iambic
rhythm which is created by stressed and unstressed syllables,
such as the first line of the first stanza, "You do not do, you
do not do" ('you' and 'not' being the weak syllables and 'do'
being the strong syllables). Plath uses this rhythm to infer,
verify and reinforce meaning of thought and feeling.
Tone

When read aloud, the poem sounds like a dark,

disturbing nursery rhyme.
Setting
The poem frequently shifts settings and most of them are metaphorical,
so instead of being in an actual place the reader is being taken from place
to place in Plath's mind. The setting in her mind starts out in a black shoe
in which the speaker lives in, which is actually a metaphor for her father.
The setting switched the whole of the United States, mentioning San
Francisco seals and the beautiful waters of a Massachusetts
beach.(Hughes, 2003) Although some of the settings sound beautiful,
they are depicted through the dark imagination of Plath, which makes the
poem intriguing to the reader.
The poem projects the feelings of anger,
depression, sadness, and fear because of several
things.
 Figurative
Plath uses stylistic devices like metaphor and hyperbole to illustrate the vast part of her
life that was occupied by her father. “…A bag full of God” is used as a metaphor for her
father, who, when she was a little girl, was the center of Plath’s world.

‘Ghastly statue with one gray toe

Big as a Frisco seal

And a head in the freakish Atlantic.’

These lines are a clear exaggeration of how small she feels in front of the gigantic
presence of her father. Also, irony is portrayed through the usage of the word ‘Daddy’
which is often associated with affection—one emotion that cannot be found anywhere in
the poem. Repetition of the word ‘Ich’ (meaning ‘I’) takes place to show the uncertainty
of her actions and the fear of her father.
The themes of the poem are distinct and emphasized. ‘Daddy’ highlights the gender
differences that the speaker feels have tied her down all her life. The association of
females with suppression and the hostility that Plath carried for that concept has been
touched upon. The speaker has used the image of her father to express her feelings
about being controlled and dominated.

‘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.’

These lines give off vibes of suffocation and entrapment that the speaker feels, living
with her father. She compares her father to a black shoe that she’s been confined in,
scared to even breathe. The poem deals the subject of morality—both the speaker and
her father’s. When the father dies, Plath deems it almost necessary to give away her
life too.
Near the end of the poem another allusion to Hitler is used.

“I made a model of you, / a man in black with a Meinkampf

look” (Plath 64-65).

Here the father is described as a model, and an illusion to

Hitler is made when she states he has a “Meinkampf look”
with Mein Kampf being a book written by Hitler.
Another strong metaphor used to describe the evil character of her
husband and her father is vampire. The writer says that her husband took
seven years for drinking her blood, “the vampire / drank my blood”
(Plath,63-64). The thought is further developed in lines 76-79. The
vampire metaphor is used to the father himself. He died like a vampire,
from a stake that went through his heart. The writer felt that both men,
who tortured her, were so similar that it was enough murder one to
revenge both. “I have killed one man, I have killed two” (Plath, 62). Only
death of the husband gave a feeling of the victory. The symbols S. Plath
used in “Daddy” poem expressed the feeling of great hate the writer felt
towards her father.
Imagery, used in the poem, demonstrates various aspects
of the writer’s attitude to her father. S. Plath uses bright
images devil, vampire, Nazi and God throughout the poem.
Her sophisticated combination of wordplay and imagery
illustrates powerful negative emotions and gives clear
reasons for her desire of the revenge.
Symbol
Plath uses the symbol of a vampire to describe her father’s personality.
At the end of the poem Plath shifts the depiction of her father from a
living Nazi to a dead vampire. “The vampire who said he was you / And
Drank my blood for years” (Plath 73-74). Here Plath bluntly calls her
father a vampire who has sucked her blood for years. The metaphor of a
blood sucking vampire is used to help paint a vivid image of the pain in
Plath’s relationship. Plath again describes her father as a vampire who
has died with a stake through his heart. “There’s a stake in your fat
black heart / And the villagers never liked you. / They are dancing and
stamping on you” (Plath 76-79).
The diction and vocabulary of the poem is creative and
easy to comprehend. Words relating to death recur and
so do the Holocaust references. The words give the poem
a rhythm and the pace depends on how cropped the
sentences are. The negativity of the words leave a bitter
taste behind when spoken out loud.
Conclusion
In Conclusion :
WHAT THE POET IS SAYING: Plath is expressing her feelings of
being dominated in a male dominant world

HOW IS THE POET SAYING IT: By metaphorically comparing the

men in her life to evil figures, and through the use of free verse
rhythm, rhyme, sinister tone, and dark gloomy settings

WHY IS THE POET SAYING IT: Plath wants to kill the shadow of
her father whom she resents for having negatively haunted her
life including her marriage, since she felt she married a man
much like her father in an attempt to replace her father