Sylvia Plath
1.
Sylvia Plath’s life is one that can be regarded as eventful by most people who are acquainted by her works of art, especially her poetry, which many have argued to be confessional to no small extent.
Most writers do not get a breakthrough with their audience with their first pieces of art, and Sylvia Plath is no different. Her work can be arbitrarily divided into three phases in which her publications were done.
From 1950 to 1955, Sylvia Plath wrote over two hundred poems, and they are not as popular as the poems she wrote later in her life. These poems are majorly about the problems that women face in the society of patriarchal nature. Some of these poems are political nature, while a number of them voice personal and psychological issues (Plath).
Further, what’s regarded as the middle phase of her carrier coincided with her marriage to Ted Hughes. During this time, Sylvia Plath wrote several poems that were published as Colossus and other Poems. The famous poems in this collection are the Colossus, Hardcastle Crags, Spinster, Fathom Five, Lorelei, and the Stones. After she moved back to London with her husband during her early years of marriage, it is obvious the new setting offered a new lease of imagination. These poems were centered on the social and political aspects of life. It is during this period of 1956 to 1960 that her voice as a poet became more recognizable. Her style and technique, and how she integrated intelligence to her work are worth mentioning.
Sylvia Plath, in the latter stages of her life, wrote quite a several poems that defined her career as a poet. This period between 1960 to 1963 was tumultuous, and her mental state had taken a toll on her. She experienced marital problems as her husband meted physical and psychological violence on her, and she even had a miscarriage as a result of that. This, she indicates to her psychiatrist Dr. Barnhouse through writing letters to her. Her husband, Ted Hughes, had an affair with a woman Assia Weevil and this added to her psychological problems. Although they were divorced in 1962, it’s evident that these challenges affected her mental health. Sylvia Plath committed suicide in 1963. Ted Hughes published her work posthumously in a collection known as Ariel, and she left out some of her work. Later in 2004, these poems were added, and they include ” Daddy,” “Lady Lazarus,” “Contusion,” and others (Plath).
Sylvia Plath’s work is informative, educative, entertaining, and insightful. One cannot help but wonder what more pieces would she produce had her life been longer. She’s one of the best poets that ever lived and deservedly so.
Daddy is one of Sylvia Plath’s last poems before her demise and undoubtedly one of the most popular among readers. The poem is one of many in her collection of Ariel, which was published following her death.
The poem is written artistically by a person who resents their father and vehemently so. The narrator is filled with hate for their father, who died while they were at a young age. The narrator describes the relationship they had with their father as not being the best and believes they need to revenge by killing their father who at this time is already dead.
The poem is written in sixteen stanzas, although the lines are concise. The concise lines make it easy for the reader to go through the poem. The writer of poetry uses repetition quite often. Some words are often repeated, such as wars, back, and I do. The writer uses Holocaust imagery quite aptly in the poem alongside imagery of the Electra, voodoo, and vampirism. By the use of words such as panzer man, Dachau, and Auschwitz, the imagery cannot go unnoticed by the reader. The use of violent imagery can be uncomfortable to the reader, but it underlines the feelings of the narrator towards “Daddy.” The writer also uses rhyming words in the poem, and this helps with the flow of the poem. An example where such is used is ” Put your foot, your root” (Plath).
In this poem, the writer strikes an unbelievable connection between history and myth. The poem seems to address the theme of patriarchy. The narrator strives to break the chains of the captivity of their father and seeks revenge against him. The narrator rebukes their father for being a Nazi and even goes ahead to disown them, saying they were a Jew. This poem by Sylvia Plath can be taken to be about her father Otto Plath, with whom she didn’t have a good relationship. Although her father died while she was young, her resentment of him continues up to adulthood when she writes this poem. The writer describes the father as being a devil, and his actions are so grave that in her twenties, she tries to commit suicide as a result. The narrator continues to add that even the villagers did not like her father. With a vitriolic tone, the narrator also highlights Jewish suffering in the poem, some of which was committed by her father (Plath).
In the end, the narrator seems to suggest that his actions, notwithstanding, she’s through hating her father for his misdeeds.
Daddy is a masterpiece by Sylvia Plath; it evokes the emotions of the reader and brings into a historical perspective of the experiences of the narrator with great ease.
References
Sylvia Plath Poems.: Derived from https://www.gradesaver.com/sylvia-plath-poems/study-guide
Sylvia Plath. Daddy. Derived from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48999/daddy-56d22aafa45b2