Sylvia Plath reads "Daddy"

I chose this poem to post for a few reasons. Sylvia Plath wrote this poem and read it on the BBC radio shortly before committing suicide. She was born in 1932. Many of her poems are considered "confessional poetry". This poem isn't blatant because she transforms herself into a Jew and her father into a Nazi. She describes her father and herself equating the characters to the Holocaust. She tries to get the reader to understand the oppressor/oppressed dynamic that she and her father had. Another aspect of the poem is that Plath not only equates her father and herself to the victim and professor but she also includes German words and themes tying to the Holocaust throughout the piece.
Her father died when she was quite young but it could be argued that maybe he was dead to her already. The poem also relates to her former husband, Ted Hughes. It had been said that she was attracted to him because he was so similar to her father. "Daddy" was written in 1962, and from previous discussions in class, it has been noted that the Holocaust was not really spoken about until the 60s. This really speaks to me because Sylvia is saying that anyone can easily become part of an oppressed group, no matter how large or small. This is the case with any marginalized group; there is in actually nothing different about they just get singled out and targeted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daddy_(poem)


Holly Robinson

This poem, I found to be very interesting. I have never heard such a poem as this. I feel like in some sense she did not have a good relationship with her father. In the way she says that her father was a Nazi and she was Jew, is a very strong opposition to one another. Her father must have treated her unfair as a child, and this poem is a way to let it out, even with the strong sense of the words used. All I can really say, is wow, she and her father did not have a good relationship to say the least. She really expressed the dislike she took from her father and using words like she used, really expresses her deep hatred for him.

I am really glad that you put this poem up. When I was my english class a few semesters ago we read this poem as a class and I remember talking about how she transforms herself into a Jew and her father into a Nazi. I totally forgot about this poem until I saw it here.

Thanks for posting this poem ... and finding the video in her own voice. I agree with Alyssa, she did have some really difficult issues with her father (and her husband too, I believe ..). It does speak the the idea of the oppressed and the oppressor their role and sometimes even their relationship to each other ... and the powerlessness that it can cause.

I just read about this on the net ... Plath's son, Nicholas Hughes, 47 years old, committed suicide over the weekend, 46 years after his mother.

Wow, I had no idea. That is so sad.