What do you think?
Rate this book
Daddy
Daddy
By Sylvia Plath
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.
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
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.
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
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.
It stuck in a barb wire snare.
Ich, ich, ich, ich,
I could hardly speak.
I thought every German was you.
And the language obscene
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 snows of the Tyrol, the clear beer of Vienna
Are not very pure or true.
With my gipsy ancestress and my weird luck
And my Taroc pack and my Taroc pack
I may be a bit of a Jew.
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——
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.
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
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.
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
And a love of the rack and the screw.
And I said I do, I do.
So daddy, I’m finally through.
The black telephone’s off at the root,
The voices just can’t worm through.
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.
By Sylvia Plath
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.
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
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.
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
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.
It stuck in a barb wire snare.
Ich, ich, ich, ich,
I could hardly speak.
I thought every German was you.
And the language obscene
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 snows of the Tyrol, the clear beer of Vienna
Are not very pure or true.
With my gipsy ancestress and my weird luck
And my Taroc pack and my Taroc pack
I may be a bit of a Jew.
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——
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.
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
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.
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
And a love of the rack and the screw.
And I said I do, I do.
So daddy, I’m finally through.
The black telephone’s off at the root,
The voices just can’t worm through.
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.
5 pages, Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 1965
About the author
Sylvia Plath
298 books30.5k followersSylvia Plath was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer, widely regarded as one of the most influential and emotionally powerful authors of the 20th century. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, she demonstrated literary talent from an early age, publishing her first poem at the age of eight. Her early life was shaped by the death of her father, Otto Plath, when she was eight years old, a trauma that would profoundly influence her later work.
Plath attended Smith College, where she excelled academically but also struggled privately with depression. In 1953, she survived a suicide attempt, an experience she later fictionalized in her semi-autobiographical novel The Bell Jar. After recovering, she earned a Fulbright Scholarship to study at Newnham College, Cambridge, in England. While there, she met and married English poet Ted Hughes in 1956. Their relationship was passionate but tumultuous, with tensions exacerbated by personal differences and Hughes's infidelities.
Throughout her life, Plath sought to balance her ambitions as a writer with the demands of marriage and motherhood. She had two children with Hughes, Frieda and Nicholas, and continued to write prolifically. In 1960, her first poetry collection, The Colossus and Other Poems, was published in the United Kingdom. Although it received modest critical attention at the time, it laid the foundation for her distinctive voice—intensely personal, often exploring themes of death, rebirth, and female identity.
Plath's marriage unraveled in 1962, leading to a period of intense emotional turmoil but also extraordinary creative output. Living with her two children in London, she wrote many of the poems that would posthumously form Ariel, the collection that would cement her literary legacy. These works, filled with striking imagery and raw emotional force, displayed her ability to turn personal suffering into powerful art. Poems like "Daddy" and "Lady Lazarus" remain among her most famous, celebrated for their fierce honesty and technical brilliance.
In early 1963, following a deepening depression, Plath died by suicide at the age of 30. Her death shocked the literary world and sparked a lasting fascination with her life and work. The posthumous publication of Ariel in 1965, edited by Hughes, introduced Plath's later poetry to a wide audience and established her as a major figure in modern literature. Her novel The Bell Jar was also published under her own name shortly after her death, having initially appeared under the pseudonym "Victoria Lucas."
Plath’s work is often classified within the genre of confessional poetry, a style that emphasizes personal and psychological experiences. Her fearless exploration of themes like mental illness, female oppression, and death has resonated with generations of readers and scholars. Over time, Plath has become a feminist icon, though her legacy is complex and occasionally controversial, especially in light of debates over Hughes's role in managing her literary estate and personal history.
Today, Sylvia Plath is remembered not only for her tragic personal story but also for her immense contributions to American and English literature. Her work continues to inspire writers, artists, and readers worldwide. Collections such as Ariel, Crossing the Water, and Winter Trees, as well as her journals and letters, offer deep insight into her creative mind. Sylvia Plath’s voice, marked by its intensity and emotional clarity, remains one of the most haunting and enduring in modern literature.
Plath attended Smith College, where she excelled academically but also struggled privately with depression. In 1953, she survived a suicide attempt, an experience she later fictionalized in her semi-autobiographical novel The Bell Jar. After recovering, she earned a Fulbright Scholarship to study at Newnham College, Cambridge, in England. While there, she met and married English poet Ted Hughes in 1956. Their relationship was passionate but tumultuous, with tensions exacerbated by personal differences and Hughes's infidelities.
Throughout her life, Plath sought to balance her ambitions as a writer with the demands of marriage and motherhood. She had two children with Hughes, Frieda and Nicholas, and continued to write prolifically. In 1960, her first poetry collection, The Colossus and Other Poems, was published in the United Kingdom. Although it received modest critical attention at the time, it laid the foundation for her distinctive voice—intensely personal, often exploring themes of death, rebirth, and female identity.
Plath's marriage unraveled in 1962, leading to a period of intense emotional turmoil but also extraordinary creative output. Living with her two children in London, she wrote many of the poems that would posthumously form Ariel, the collection that would cement her literary legacy. These works, filled with striking imagery and raw emotional force, displayed her ability to turn personal suffering into powerful art. Poems like "Daddy" and "Lady Lazarus" remain among her most famous, celebrated for their fierce honesty and technical brilliance.
In early 1963, following a deepening depression, Plath died by suicide at the age of 30. Her death shocked the literary world and sparked a lasting fascination with her life and work. The posthumous publication of Ariel in 1965, edited by Hughes, introduced Plath's later poetry to a wide audience and established her as a major figure in modern literature. Her novel The Bell Jar was also published under her own name shortly after her death, having initially appeared under the pseudonym "Victoria Lucas."
Plath’s work is often classified within the genre of confessional poetry, a style that emphasizes personal and psychological experiences. Her fearless exploration of themes like mental illness, female oppression, and death has resonated with generations of readers and scholars. Over time, Plath has become a feminist icon, though her legacy is complex and occasionally controversial, especially in light of debates over Hughes's role in managing her literary estate and personal history.
Today, Sylvia Plath is remembered not only for her tragic personal story but also for her immense contributions to American and English literature. Her work continues to inspire writers, artists, and readers worldwide. Collections such as Ariel, Crossing the Water, and Winter Trees, as well as her journals and letters, offer deep insight into her creative mind. Sylvia Plath’s voice, marked by its intensity and emotional clarity, remains one of the most haunting and enduring in modern literature.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 98 reviews
January 28, 2017
The audacity of using Holocaust metaphors to describe your personal life - holy smokes, what a brilliant poem.
June 8, 2016
in this poem Sylvia Plath used some metaphors and imagery to show how she was a victim of her father or perhaps her husband.
by using some German words the speaker is showing that her German father is like a Nazi and therefore she is a Jew. At the end of this poem, the metaphor for the speaker's father and husband, and potentially all men, shifts from Nazis to vampires.The vampire has sucked the narrator's blood for seven years, probably the length of their marriage. This is a vivid metaphor for the pain she has been bearing.
it's the ironical title of the poem 'daddy' which suggest firstly how cute a father can be, but now is like a monster or somehow a Nazi. so there is an internal struggle between loving and hating her deceased father.
whenever I read Plath's poems, her depression and her committing suicide appear right in front o my eyes. how sad one's life could be!
don't listen to its audio version.if you don't want to burst into tears!
by using some German words the speaker is showing that her German father is like a Nazi and therefore she is a Jew. At the end of this poem, the metaphor for the speaker's father and husband, and potentially all men, shifts from Nazis to vampires.The vampire has sucked the narrator's blood for seven years, probably the length of their marriage. This is a vivid metaphor for the pain she has been bearing.
it's the ironical title of the poem 'daddy' which suggest firstly how cute a father can be, but now is like a monster or somehow a Nazi. so there is an internal struggle between loving and hating her deceased father.
whenever I read Plath's poems, her depression and her committing suicide appear right in front o my eyes. how sad one's life could be!
don't listen to its audio version.if you don't want to burst into tears!
September 21, 2020
This is the first time I'm reading Plath with full dedication and it blew me away. A poem which ranges from innocent child-talk to dark, disturbing Holocaust images leaves you emotionally drained, and rightly so. Such is the passion and brutal honestly which comes across. Plath does not shy away from wrapping the whole poem in a blanket of somberness, leaving you no way to escape. You feel the weight of her love, hatred, and helplessness as your own. A gem of a poem.
November 18, 2024
Every woman adores a Fascist.
December 31, 2020
I LOVE THIS. Please listen to Sylvia Plath recite it if you ever read it.
November 30, 2017
an incredibly beautiful, yet heart-wrecking tale of fear, hatred and release.
Sylvia Plath tries in this marvellous poem to forgive her father for what he has, or has not, been for her...
He died when she was 10, but she still remembers his figure, the fear he used to instill in her, so much so that she would never learn German, her mother tongue, because when he spoke it, it meant that something bad was going to happen.
But fear is not the only sentiment this poem arouses. Anger and hatred are deeply rooted in the entire composition, she hated him for not showing his love enough, she hated him so much, she was angry at herself, 10 years after his death, she tried committing suicide, and he was getting closer and closer... But after that, after that failed attempt she is free, "the black telephone is cut at the root" she says and she is finally free.
Sylvia Plath tries in this marvellous poem to forgive her father for what he has, or has not, been for her...
He died when she was 10, but she still remembers his figure, the fear he used to instill in her, so much so that she would never learn German, her mother tongue, because when he spoke it, it meant that something bad was going to happen.
But fear is not the only sentiment this poem arouses. Anger and hatred are deeply rooted in the entire composition, she hated him for not showing his love enough, she hated him so much, she was angry at herself, 10 years after his death, she tried committing suicide, and he was getting closer and closer... But after that, after that failed attempt she is free, "the black telephone is cut at the root" she says and she is finally free.
September 19, 2026
I read The Bell Jar years ago, but this was my first poem by Plath, and… well, holy shit.
She composed the dark and controversial Daddy in a single day, a month after her separation from Ted Hughes and four months before her suicide—sixteen bitter and ferocious stanzas, disturbing because of the intensity of hatred she harbored for her father, a German immigrant who died of diabetes complications shortly after her eight birthday, but also for her estranged husband, who is strongly alluded to, with the two men merging into one by the end of the poem.
The controversy mostly comes from her using Holocaust imagery to describe her relationship with her late father—the audacity of using Nazi metaphors to describe your daddy issues! It’s so evocative, so shocking, so raw—for better or worse, that’s what makes it memorable.
She mentions both my place of birth and the place I've chosen to live in a single line, which, coupled with how strongly I related to the underlying relationship dynamics in this, made for an extra startling reading experience.
Listen to Plath read it here.
—————
Part of the September 2026 poetry selection for ...Like a Good Book Club
She composed the dark and controversial Daddy in a single day, a month after her separation from Ted Hughes and four months before her suicide—sixteen bitter and ferocious stanzas, disturbing because of the intensity of hatred she harbored for her father, a German immigrant who died of diabetes complications shortly after her eight birthday, but also for her estranged husband, who is strongly alluded to, with the two men merging into one by the end of the poem.
The controversy mostly comes from her using Holocaust imagery to describe her relationship with her late father—the audacity of using Nazi metaphors to describe your daddy issues! It’s so evocative, so shocking, so raw—for better or worse, that’s what makes it memorable.
She mentions both my place of birth and the place I've chosen to live in a single line, which, coupled with how strongly I related to the underlying relationship dynamics in this, made for an extra startling reading experience.
Listen to Plath read it here.
—————
Part of the September 2026 poetry selection for ...Like a Good Book Club
October 12, 2022
The destruction and distancing of intolerable male figures? This is my cup of tea! („• ֊ •„)
I do feel like this could have been better. Plath seemed disassociated with the event of the Holocaust which made it quite difficult to connect. Having the balls to compare one’s life to that of a very traumatic event is definitely bad ass though.
She deserves points for being badass.
I do feel like this could have been better. Plath seemed disassociated with the event of the Holocaust which made it quite difficult to connect. Having the balls to compare one’s life to that of a very traumatic event is definitely bad ass though.
She deserves points for being badass.
November 9, 2026
read something by slyvia plath for the first time and all i have to say: why are people so obsessed with her? this was not good.
miss girl equating her daddy issues to the sufferings of jewish people during ww2 is dumbfounding.
miss girl equating her daddy issues to the sufferings of jewish people during ww2 is dumbfounding.
April 25, 2025
SPEECHLESS!
THIS IS LITERALLY PERFECTION!!!!
THIS IS LITERALLY PERFECTION!!!!
October 13, 2015
This is one of the many Plath poems I studied in my final year of high school, and undoubtedly one of my favourites. Every time I re-read it, I find new meaning and symbolism, which I absolutely love in poetry. I was inspired to pick this up again after watching a documentary about the life of Ted Hughes, in which Plath is heavily featured.
The running metaphor of comparing her father/husband to vampires is brilliant.
"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."
I really wish I had appreciated this more when I first read it.
The running metaphor of comparing her father/husband to vampires is brilliant.
"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."
I really wish I had appreciated this more when I first read it.
August 20, 2024
"At twenty I tried to die
they pulled me out of the sack,
And they stuck me together with glue"
they pulled me out of the sack,
And they stuck me together with glue"
December 4, 2024
My first introduction to Sylvia Plath, honestly I’m in adoration of the poetic nature and confessional language of her work absolutely otherworldly and widely relatable, easily understood and recognisable feelings that relay generations since her passing.
February 17, 2022
might or might not be getting into poems lately. I LOVED THIS!!
January 3, 2023
I'd give five stars for "If I’ve killed one man, I’ve killed two—— / The vampire who said he was you" alone
August 26, 2023
What an interesting yet controversial way to address your own dad. The hatred for your own Father but also the longing for him after his death
March 15, 2024
The way that Sylvia’s anger, fear, and hurt is described in this poem is controversial, yet powerful.
December 14, 2024
the last stanza really did it for me
May 13, 2025
Luister naar de audioversie!!
October 29, 2024
'Every woman adores a Fascist,
The boot in the face, the brute
Brute heart of a brute like you.'
The boot in the face, the brute
Brute heart of a brute like you.'
October 7, 2026
*This review has some sections talking about suicide*
If you read Daddy by Sylvia Plath, you might feel like she is not stable or you might think that she is schizophrenic. Of course, we know that at some points, she wasn't that stable, but in order to fully understand her and the poem, we need to use different tools to analyze the poem.
I studied this poem in the last semester in my Modern Poetry course. At the beginning of the course, we started, of course, with the characteristics of modern poetry and modern man. If you read about the modern poetry era, you will discover that some aspects affected and shaped the poetry at this time. Among those aspects was the emergence of psychology and the ideas of Freud and Lacan. This had a huge impact on poetry, and in order to fully understand the poems, you might have to know about and use psychological tools in order to interpret and understand the poem.
And as I studied more, I knew that a special type of poetry was flourishing, which was Confessional Poetry, where the poets talk about their feelings, what happens in their minds, their inner conflicts, and, of course, their inner psychological suffering.
If you read more about Freud's ideas, you will find an interesting and important tool to use while interpreting the poem, which is the distinction between mourning and melancholia. People mourn; this is natural and happens to most people. People mourn when they lose someone or something they love. By losing the love object, your psyche becomes unstable; now, it has a gap that needs to be fulfilled. As time passes, normal people can get better, and this gap becomes less and less, and some people may find a new love object and they could overcome the idea of mourning. But what happens when people become unable to get better? What happens when they can't overcome what they have lost? They couldn't reduce the gap in their psyche, so they became unstable and suffered psychologically. According to Freud, they are in a melancholic state.
People who are in the melancholic state are unstable. The loss of the love object has a huge impact on them, "the ego." They can't overcome the loss, suffer psychologically, and tend to have contradictory attitudes, one time you will find them talking about the love object as a very important thing, however, other times you might find them talking about the love object in a negative way. This is what is known as the ambivalence state.
The melancholic people tend to have defensive mechanisms, On one hand they try to convince themselves that the loss of the love object wasn't that bad and that the love object wasn't that important, you will find that she stated one more time that her father isn't a good person and she don't care about him, on the other hand they try to substitute the love object. Silvia tries to find a husband to replace her father. May be this could be linked to the Electra complex, too. The melancholic people tend to have suicidal tendencies. If they couldn't substitute the love object, they may try to get rid of their lives! In order to have a kind of reunion with the dead person.
You may understand that Sylvia had a problem without the need to go back to psychology and find tools that will help you in analyzing the poem, but you will fully understand it, of course, if you read about Freud's idea and explanation for Mourning vs. Melancholia.
If you read the poem, you will find negativity from the very beginning. She presents her daddy as a black shoe and herself as the foot trapped inside this shoe. ابويا جزمه وانا رجله😭😭 She is repetitive she mentions a lot of times how he isn't important, worthy, or valuable. Then suddenly, you find her saying that she prayed to recover him! A typical melancholic person in the ambivalence state.
She had the audacity to use metaphors and repetitive ideas to show how bad he was, she use the holocaust as a great tool to say how her father was a bad person he is like Hitler He is Nazi. She suffers because of him as if she was a Jew and he tortured her. She also, as a defensive tool, says that every woman adores a Fascist. She is saying that her father is like Mussolini, another clear trial to make him appear like a bad person. She again made him appear like a bad person and said that he had a cleft in his chin instead of his foot. She is saying that he is a devil, In the poem “The Demon Lover,” the woman discovers that her lover is a devil when they are in the middle of the sea, and she notices a cleft in his leg. In Greek mythology, the devil is believed to have a cloven foot (split into two parts), which reveals his true nature. So she likens him to the devil.
Then suddenly you find her saying that she tried to get back, back, back to him! Ambivalent and unstable, she tried to die to be back with her father. She wanted to die to be with his bones. She is fully aware that she will not meet her daddy she will meet the bones in the grave, but for her, this is satisfactory. She wanted to be even with the bones. There are suicidal intentions, and not just intentions she has already tried several times to commit suicide. In the end, she commits suicide and dies by gas.
You will find her talking about how she tried to replace her father, She searched for a new substitution for the love object. Because she is not stable. Actually, she married Ted Hughes, a great poet and a university professor. Nearly 20 years old, older than her. According to her autobiography she said that Ted Hughes left her for another woman. She said that he betrayed her and that he was not different.
Then, again, you will find repetitive ideas about how bad her father was and how everyone hated him and was happy that he died. A typical melancholic person, Silvia committed suicide 3 times, and in the fourth time, she succeeded. When she committed suicide, she opened the gas and put some towels under the doors because her kids were outside the doors. She died at the age of 30. She was a successful poet. She received many awards, and her works were very popular. She was a good mother, but we lost her for many reasons, and, of course, the loss of her father might be a strong reason that contributed to that.
Personally, I adored this poem, I like the Confessional Poetry very much. Any interdisciplinary approach is very interesting to me because we get chances to know more and more about more than one field, and the intersection between literature and psychology is fascinating. Modern poetry and modern man have unique and beautiful characteristics that you may and may not find them in other eras. It was a wonderful experience to reread this poem again.
If you read Daddy by Sylvia Plath, you might feel like she is not stable or you might think that she is schizophrenic. Of course, we know that at some points, she wasn't that stable, but in order to fully understand her and the poem, we need to use different tools to analyze the poem.
I studied this poem in the last semester in my Modern Poetry course. At the beginning of the course, we started, of course, with the characteristics of modern poetry and modern man. If you read about the modern poetry era, you will discover that some aspects affected and shaped the poetry at this time. Among those aspects was the emergence of psychology and the ideas of Freud and Lacan. This had a huge impact on poetry, and in order to fully understand the poems, you might have to know about and use psychological tools in order to interpret and understand the poem.
And as I studied more, I knew that a special type of poetry was flourishing, which was Confessional Poetry, where the poets talk about their feelings, what happens in their minds, their inner conflicts, and, of course, their inner psychological suffering.
If you read more about Freud's ideas, you will find an interesting and important tool to use while interpreting the poem, which is the distinction between mourning and melancholia. People mourn; this is natural and happens to most people. People mourn when they lose someone or something they love. By losing the love object, your psyche becomes unstable; now, it has a gap that needs to be fulfilled. As time passes, normal people can get better, and this gap becomes less and less, and some people may find a new love object and they could overcome the idea of mourning. But what happens when people become unable to get better? What happens when they can't overcome what they have lost? They couldn't reduce the gap in their psyche, so they became unstable and suffered psychologically. According to Freud, they are in a melancholic state.
People who are in the melancholic state are unstable. The loss of the love object has a huge impact on them, "the ego." They can't overcome the loss, suffer psychologically, and tend to have contradictory attitudes, one time you will find them talking about the love object as a very important thing, however, other times you might find them talking about the love object in a negative way. This is what is known as the ambivalence state.
The melancholic people tend to have defensive mechanisms, On one hand they try to convince themselves that the loss of the love object wasn't that bad and that the love object wasn't that important, you will find that she stated one more time that her father isn't a good person and she don't care about him, on the other hand they try to substitute the love object. Silvia tries to find a husband to replace her father. May be this could be linked to the Electra complex, too. The melancholic people tend to have suicidal tendencies. If they couldn't substitute the love object, they may try to get rid of their lives! In order to have a kind of reunion with the dead person.
You may understand that Sylvia had a problem without the need to go back to psychology and find tools that will help you in analyzing the poem, but you will fully understand it, of course, if you read about Freud's idea and explanation for Mourning vs. Melancholia.
If you read the poem, you will find negativity from the very beginning. She presents her daddy as a black shoe and herself as the foot trapped inside this shoe. ابويا جزمه وانا رجله😭😭 She is repetitive she mentions a lot of times how he isn't important, worthy, or valuable. Then suddenly, you find her saying that she prayed to recover him! A typical melancholic person in the ambivalence state.
She had the audacity to use metaphors and repetitive ideas to show how bad he was, she use the holocaust as a great tool to say how her father was a bad person he is like Hitler He is Nazi. She suffers because of him as if she was a Jew and he tortured her. She also, as a defensive tool, says that every woman adores a Fascist. She is saying that her father is like Mussolini, another clear trial to make him appear like a bad person. She again made him appear like a bad person and said that he had a cleft in his chin instead of his foot. She is saying that he is a devil, In the poem “The Demon Lover,” the woman discovers that her lover is a devil when they are in the middle of the sea, and she notices a cleft in his leg. In Greek mythology, the devil is believed to have a cloven foot (split into two parts), which reveals his true nature. So she likens him to the devil.
Then suddenly you find her saying that she tried to get back, back, back to him! Ambivalent and unstable, she tried to die to be back with her father. She wanted to die to be with his bones. She is fully aware that she will not meet her daddy she will meet the bones in the grave, but for her, this is satisfactory. She wanted to be even with the bones. There are suicidal intentions, and not just intentions she has already tried several times to commit suicide. In the end, she commits suicide and dies by gas.
You will find her talking about how she tried to replace her father, She searched for a new substitution for the love object. Because she is not stable. Actually, she married Ted Hughes, a great poet and a university professor. Nearly 20 years old, older than her. According to her autobiography she said that Ted Hughes left her for another woman. She said that he betrayed her and that he was not different.
Then, again, you will find repetitive ideas about how bad her father was and how everyone hated him and was happy that he died. A typical melancholic person, Silvia committed suicide 3 times, and in the fourth time, she succeeded. When she committed suicide, she opened the gas and put some towels under the doors because her kids were outside the doors. She died at the age of 30. She was a successful poet. She received many awards, and her works were very popular. She was a good mother, but we lost her for many reasons, and, of course, the loss of her father might be a strong reason that contributed to that.
Personally, I adored this poem, I like the Confessional Poetry very much. Any interdisciplinary approach is very interesting to me because we get chances to know more and more about more than one field, and the intersection between literature and psychology is fascinating. Modern poetry and modern man have unique and beautiful characteristics that you may and may not find them in other eras. It was a wonderful experience to reread this poem again.
January 7, 2017
"Daddy, I have had to kill you.
You died before I had time.."
You died before I had time.."
May 13, 2017
"At twenty I tried to die
And get back, back, back to you.
I thought even the bones would do.
But they pulled me out of the sack,
And they stuck me together with glue."
And get back, back, back to you.
I thought even the bones would do.
But they pulled me out of the sack,
And they stuck me together with glue."
July 4, 2017
"I’m through."
December 6, 2021
I'm all for the feminism, not so much for the comparing the experience of being a woman to being a Jewish person in the Holocaust.
April 25, 2025
Sylvia Plath, you are (were) insane (literally).
Displaying 1 - 30 of 98 reviews