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Sylvia Plath 'Daddy'

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"Daddy" is a poem written by Sylvia Plath shortly before her death. It was written on October 12, 1962 and published in Ariel [1] in 1965. Critics have viewed the poem as a response to Plath's complicated relationship with her father, Otto Plath, who died shortly after she had turned eight as a result of diabetes [2]. Plath's vivid use of imagery and controversial use of the Holocaust as a metaphor contributes to the popularity of the poem.

A Fragment of "Daddy"

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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.
Sylvia Plath
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.