The “Daddy” is well know poem written by famous American poet and author, Sylivia Plath. The poem was written in 1962 and it was published posthumously in 1965 in poet’s collection “Ariel”.
Daddy Poem By Sylvia Plath
Summary of Daddy By Sylvia Plath
When poem was written, poet was going through a dark period of her life and she was very depressed. The poet suicides four months after writing poem “Daddy”. In poem, poet addresses her father who have very dark and oppressive memories in poet’s mind.
Sylvia Plath’s father was a German immigrant so in poem poet has discussed many things about Hitler, Nazi and their German City. So basically, poet wants to be free from her father’s influence.
The story of poem begins with poet who say, you do not do, you do not do, I have lived my life like I am a foot who is captured in black shoes but this won’t work anymore. For thirty years I have lived my life like this, without any luxury and without color. Which means my life was boring and restricted for 30 years but not anymore!
I didn’t even have that much courage to breathe and sneeze. The poet say, Daddy, I had to kill you but you died yourself before I kill you. Here poet describe her father, poet’s father was heavy like a marble and his body was like a bag which was full of God. The writer say it because her father was Religious person. As well as my father was like a Ghastly statue who one toe was as big as like Frisco seal.
Your head was into to the Atlantic ocean where blue water mixes with green water. The poet’s father was so big and monstrous that he was spread from Pacific to Atlantic. He was such big monster. I used to pray to recover you from death.
I prayed in German language in a town of Polish, a town which was destroyed by the wars, wars and wars. I have prayed for you in such places where there was only wars and wars were happening. But this town name is very common so I don’t know whether it your city or something else.
The poet’s father was a German immigrant so she is looking for her father’s real home town. But that name is so common that she is not able to find it.
My polish friend says there are dozen of town with this name in Germany, so it is difficult for me to find your city. So I can’t tell you where you put your foot and where your root. I never could talk to you because whenever I tried my tongue stuck in my jaw.
I didn’t had the courage to talk to you. I used to feel that my tongue is stuck in barb wire. I could not able to talk to you as I thought every German is you and German language was very offensive and disgusting for me.
German language is like a train engine which took me to the concentration camp like a Jew. I began to talk like a Jew, I think I can be a Jew. The poet imagine herself in that train say, Austria City, Tyrol’s snow and Beer of Vienna are impure. The poet say, my grandparents were gypsy as well as my luck is weird. I may be a bit of Jew.
I have always been scared of you father, and your Luftwaffe and your useless talk. As well your mustache and your bright blue eyes used to scared me a lot. Because this always remind me of German and Hitler. You are a panzer-man, you were not a God but Swatika, a symbol of German Nazi Regime.
You looks like a black cloud through which light can’t pass, every woman adores a Fascist like you, who kill them and whose heart is brute like you. Here poet is talking about women who like Fascist man.
I have a picture of you father in which you are standing at the blackboard, a cleft in your chin which makes you no less than devil. You are devil like a that black man who divided my heart into two parts. I was only 10 years old when they buried you and I tried to die at 20 age, to get back to you.
But they does not let me die and saved me from dying. And then I realize what to do, I made a model of you which looked like Meinkampf look. For poet, her father was like a Hitler. That model loved torturing and hurting people which means he looked like you or Hitler. And I married him and accept him. So Daddy, I’m finally with you again.
If I have killed one man, I would have killed two, the model I married was vampire in reality who drank my blood for one year. If you truly want to know I faced it for seven years. Father, you can rest now. There’s a stick in your black heart through which we can kill vampire, it is in your heart which means you were also a vampire.
The village you lived their villagers never liked you. Now they are dancing and jumping near your dead body because they always knew that you are a vampire. You have tortured them and drank their blood. Daddy, you are a bastard and now I’m done talking about you.