"Daddy" is a controversial and highly anthologized poem by the American poet Sylvia Plath. Published posthumously in 1965 as part of the collection Ariel, the poem was originally written in October 1962, a month after Plath's separation from her husband, the poet Ted Hughes, and four months before her death by suicide. It is a deeply complex poem informed by the poet's relationship with her deceased father, Otto Plath. Told from the perspective of a woman addressing her father, the memory of whom has an oppressive power over her, the poem details the speaker's struggle to break free of his influence.

• Read the full text of “Daddy”

• “Daddy” Summary

• “Daddy” Themes

  • 

    Gender and Oppression

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-80
  • 

    Power and Myth-Making

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-5
    • Lines 6-14
    • Lines 22-23
    • Lines 24-28
    • Line 29
    • Lines 30-35
    • Lines 36-37
    • Lines 38-40
    • Lines 41-45
    • Lines 46-56
    • Lines 64-67
    • Lines 71-80
  • 

    Death and Family Trauma

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-7
    • Lines 8-13
    • Lines 14-15
    • Line 29
    • Lines 41-67
    • Lines 68-70
    • Line 71
    • Lines 75-80

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Daddy”

  • Lines 1-5

    You do not ...
    ... breathe or Achoo.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 6-10

    Daddy, I have ...
    ... a Frisco seal

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 11-15

    And a head ...
    ... Ach, du.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 16-21

    In the German ...
    ... dozen or two.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 22-27

    So I never ...
    ... ich, ich, ich,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 28-33

    I could hardly ...
    ... Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 34-39

    I began to ...
    ... my Taroc pack

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 40-45

    I may be ...
    ... panzer-man, O You—

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 46-50

    Not God but ...
    ... brute like you.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 51-56

    You stand at ...
    ... heart in two.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 57-62

    I was ten ...
    ... together with glue.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 63-68

    And then I ...
    ... I’m finally through.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 69-74

    The black telephone’s ...
    ... want to know.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 75-80

    Daddy, you can ...
    ... bastard, I’m through.

    

    

    

    

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• “Daddy” Symbols

  • 

    Blackness

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “black shoe”
    • Lines 46-47: “Not God but a swastika / So black no sky could squeak through.”
    • Lines 54-56: “no not / Any less the black man who / Bit my pretty red heart in two.”
    • Line 65: “A man in black with a Meinkampf look”
    • Line 69: “The black telephone’s off at the root”
  • 

    Holocaust Imagery

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 15: “Ach, du.”
    • Lines 16-21: “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.”
    • Lines 26-35: “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.”
    • Lines 36-45: “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—”
    • Lines 46-47: “Not God but a swastika / So black no sky could squeak through.”
    • Line 48: “Every woman adores a Fascist,”
    • Line 65: “A man in black with a Meinkampf look”
  • 

    The Telephone

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 69-70: “The black telephone’s off at the root, / The voices just can’t worm through.”
  • 

    Daddy

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 6: “Daddy, I have had to kill you.”
    • Line 68: “So daddy, I’m finally through.”
    • Line 75: “Daddy, you can lie back now.”
    • Line 80: “Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through.”

• “Daddy” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Apostrophe

    

    

    

    

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    Where apostrophe appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “You do not do, you do not do / Any more, black shoe”
    • Lines 6-7: “Daddy, I have had to kill you. / You died before I had time—”
    • Lines 14-15: “I used to pray to recover you. / Ach, du.”
    • Lines 22-24: “So I never could tell where you / Put your foot, your root, / I never could talk to you.”
    • Line 29: “I thought every German was you.”
    • Lines 41-45: “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—”
    • Lines 50-53: “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”
    • Line 57: “I was ten when they buried you.”
    • Line 59: “And get back, back, back to you.”
    • Line 64: “I made a model of you,”
    • Line 68: “So daddy, I’m finally through.”
    • Line 72: “The vampire who said he was you”
    • Lines 74-80: “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.”

  • Asyndeton

    

    

    

    

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    Where asyndeton appears in the poem:

    • Lines 8-9: “Marble-heavy, a bag full of God, / Ghastly statue with one gray toe”
    • Line 16: “In the German tongue, in the Polish town”
    • Line 18: “wars, wars, wars.”
    • Line 23: “your foot, your root,”
    • Line 33: “A Jew to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen.”
    • Line 36: “The snows of the Tyrol, the clear beer of Vienna”
    • Line 42: “With your Luftwaffe, your gobbledygoo.”

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-3: “black shoe / In which I have lived like a foot”
    • Lines 9-10: “one gray toe / Big as a Frisco seal”
    • Line 32: “Chuffing me off like a Jew.”
    • Line 34: “I began to talk like a Jew.”

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-5
    • Line 8
    • Lines 9-11
    • Lines 16-18
    • Lines 22-23
    • Lines 25-47
    • Lines 54-56
    • Lines 61-62
    • Line 66
    • Lines 69-70
    • Lines 71-80

  • Imagery

    

    

    

    

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    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-5: “ black shoe / In which I have lived like a foot / For thirty years, poor and white, / Barely daring to breathe or Achoo.”
    • Lines 8-13: “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.”
    • Lines 16-18: “town / Scraped flat by the roller / Of wars, wars, wars.”
    • Lines 25-26: “The tongue stuck in my jaw. / It stuck in a barb wire snare.”
    • Lines 31-32: “An engine, an engine / Chuffing me off like a Jew.”
    • Lines 36-37: “The snows of the Tyrol, the clear beer of Vienna / Are not very pure or true.”
    • Lines 43-44: “And your neat mustache / And your Aryan eye, bright blue.”
    • Lines 46-47: “a swastika / So black no sky could squeak through.”
    • Line 49: “The boot in the face,”
    • Lines 51-53: “You stand at the blackboard, daddy, / In the picture I have of you, / A cleft in your chin instead of your foot”
    • Line 56: “Bit my pretty red heart in two.”
    • Lines 61-62: “But they pulled me out of the sack, / And they stuck me together with glue.”
    • Line 65: “A man in black with a Meinkampf look”
    • Lines 69-70: “The black telephone’s off at the root, / The voices just can’t worm through.”
    • Lines 72-73: “The vampire who said he was you / And drank my blood for a year,”
    • Line 76: “There’s a stake in your fat black heart”
    • Line 78: “They are dancing and stamping on you.”

  • Allusion

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-3: “shoe / In which I have lived like a foot”
    • Lines 9-10: “one gray toe / Big as a Frisco seal”
    • Lines 11-13: “And a head in the freakish Atlantic / Where it pours bean green over blue / In the waters off beautiful Nauset.”
    • Lines 16-19: “the Polish town / Scraped flat by the roller / Of wars, wars, wars. / But the name of the town is common.”
    • Lines 31-33: “An engine, an engine / Chuffing me off like a Jew. / A Jew to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen.”
    • Lines 36-39: “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”
    • Lines 41-46: “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”
    • Lines 57-59: “I was ten when they buried you. / At twenty I tried to die / And get back, back, back to you.”
    • Line 61: “But they pulled me out of the sack,”
    • Line 65: “Meinkampf”
    • Line 66: “And a love of the rack and the screw.”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “do / Any”
    • Lines 2-3: “shoe / In”
    • Lines 3-4: “foot / For”
    • Lines 9-10: “toe / Big”
    • Lines 10-11: “seal / And”
    • Lines 11-12: “Atlantic / Where”
    • Lines 12-13: “blue / In”
    • Lines 16-17: “town / Scraped”
    • Lines 17-18: “roller / Of”
    • Lines 20-21: “friend / Says”
    • Lines 22-23: “you / Put”
    • Lines 30-31: “obscene / An”
    • Lines 31-32: “engine / Chuffing”
    • Lines 36-37: “Vienna / Are”
    • Lines 38-39: “luck  / And”
    • Lines 39-40: “pack / I”
    • Lines 43-44: “mustache / And”
    • Lines 46-47: “swastika / So”
    • Lines 49-50: “brute / Brute”
    • Lines 53-54: “foot / But”
    • Lines 54-55: “not / Any”
    • Lines 55-56: “who / Bit”
    • Lines 58-59: “die / And”
    • Lines 65-66: “look / And”
    • Lines 72-73: “you / And”
    • Lines 76-77: “heart / And”

  • End-Stopped Line

    

    

    

    

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    Where end-stopped line appears in the poem:

    • Line 4: “white,”
    • Line 5: “Achoo.”
    • Line 6: “you.”
    • Line 7: “time—”
    • Line 8: “God,”
    • Line 13: “Nauset.”
    • Line 14: “you.”
    • Line 15: “du.”
    • Line 18: “wars.”
    • Line 19: “common.”
    • Line 21: “two.”
    • Line 23: “root,”
    • Line 24: “you.”
    • Line 25: “jaw.”
    • Line 26: “snare.”
    • Line 27: “ich,”
    • Line 28: “speak.”
    • Line 29: “you.”
    • Line 32: “Jew.”
    • Line 33: “Belsen.”
    • Line 34: “Jew.”
    • Line 35: “Jew.”
    • Line 37: “true.”
    • Line 40: “Jew.”
    • Line 41: “you,”
    • Line 42: “gobbledygoo.”
    • Line 44: “blue.”
    • Line 47: “through.”
    • Line 48: “Fascist,”
    • Line 50: “you.”
    • Line 51: “daddy,”
    • Line 52: “you,”
    • Line 56: “two.”
    • Line 57: “you.”
    • Line 59: “you.”
    • Line 60: “do.”
    • Line 61: “sack,”
    • Line 62: “glue.”
    • Line 63: “do.”
    • Line 64: “you,”
    • Line 66: “screw.”
    • Line 67: “do.”
    • Line 68: “through.”
    • Line 69: “root,”
    • Line 70: “through.”
    • Line 71: “two—”
    • Line 73: “year,”
    • Line 74: “know.”
    • Line 75: “now.”
    • Line 77: “you.”
    • Line 78: “you.”
    • Line 79: “you.”
    • Line 80: “through.”

  • Caesura

    

    

    

    

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    Where caesura appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “do, you”
    • Line 2: “more, black”
    • Line 4: “years, poor”
    • Line 6: “Daddy, I”
    • Line 8: “Marble-heavy, a”
    • Line 15: “Ach, du”
    • Line 16: “tongue, in”
    • Line 18: “wars, wars, wars”
    • Line 23: “foot, your”
    • Line 27: “Ich, ich, ich, ich”
    • Line 31: “engine, an”
    • Line 33: “Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen”
    • Line 36: “Tyrol, the”
    • Line 42: “Luftwaffe, your”
    • Line 44: “eye, bright”
    • Line 45: “Panzer-man, panzer-man, O”
    • Line 49: “face, the”
    • Line 51: “blackboard, daddy”
    • Line 54: “that, no”
    • Line 59: “back, back, back”
    • Line 67: “do, I”
    • Line 68: “daddy, I’m”
    • Line 71: “man, I’ve”
    • Line 74: “years, if”
    • Line 75: “Daddy, you”
    • Line 80: “Daddy, daddy, you,” “bastard, I’m”

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “You do not do, you do not do”
    • Line 16: “In the,” “in the”
    • Line 18: “wars, wars, wars.”
    • Line 22: “I never could”
    • Line 23: “your,” “your”
    • Line 24: “I never could”
    • Line 25: “stuck”
    • Line 26: “stuck”
    • Line 27: “Ich, ich, ich, ich,”
    • Line 31: “An engine, an engine”
    • Line 32: “a Jew.”
    • Line 33: “A Jew”
    • Line 34: “a Jew.”
    • Line 35: “a Jew.”
    • Line 39: “And my Taroc pack and my Taroc pack”
    • Line 40: “a Jew.”
    • Line 42: “your,” “your”
    • Line 43: “And your”
    • Line 44: “And your”
    • Line 45: “Panzer-man, panzer-man,”
    • Line 49: “brute”
    • Line 50: “Brute,” “brute”
    • Line 54: “less”
    • Line 55: “less”
    • Line 59: “back, back, back”
    • Line 60: “do.”
    • Line 62: “And”
    • Line 63: “And,” “do.”
    • Line 66: “And”
    • Line 67: “And,” “I do, I do.”
    • Line 71: “I’ve killed,” “I’ve killed”
    • Line 73: “year,”
    • Line 74: “years”
    • Line 77: “you.”
    • Line 78: “They,” “you.”
    • Line 79: “They,” “you.”
    • Line 80: “Daddy, daddy,”

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “do,” “do,” “do,” “do”
    • Line 3: “lived like”
    • Lines 3-4: “foot / For”
    • Line 5: “daring”
    • Line 6: “Daddy,” “have had”
    • Line 7: “died”
    • Line 8: “bag,” “full,” “God”
    • Line 9: “Ghastly,” “gray”
    • Line 10: “Big,” “Frisco”
    • Line 11: “freakish”
    • Line 12: “bean,” “green,” “blue”
    • Line 13: “beautiful”
    • Line 16: “tongue,” “town”
    • Line 18: “wars, wars, wars”
    • Line 24: “talk to”
    • Line 25: “tongue,” “stuck”
    • Line 26: “stuck,” “snare”
    • Line 27: “Ich, ich, ich, ich”
    • Line 44: “bright blue”
    • Line 46: “swastika”
    • Line 47: “So,” “sky,” “squeak”
    • Line 49: “boot”
    • Lines 49-50: “brute / Brute”
    • Line 50: “brute”
    • Line 51: “blackboard”
    • Line 54: “no,” “no not”
    • Line 55: “black”
    • Line 56: “Bit,” “two”
    • Line 57: “ten,” “buried”
    • Line 58: “twenty,” “tried,” “to”
    • Line 59: “back, back, back”
    • Line 60: “bones”
    • Line 61: “But,” “sack”
    • Line 62: “stuck,” “together,” “glue”
    • Line 64: “made,” “model”
    • Line 65: “man,” “black,” “Meinkampf,” “look”
    • Line 66: “love”

  • Anadiplosis

    

    

    

    

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    Where anadiplosis appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “You do not do, you do not do”
    • Line 31: “An engine, an engine”
    • Line 32: “a Jew.”
    • Line 33: “A Jew”
    • Line 71: “If I’ve killed one man, I’ve killed two—”
    • Lines 73-74: “year, / Seven years”

  • Anaphora

    

    

    

    

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    Where anaphora appears in the poem:

    • Line 16: “In the,” “in the”
    • Line 34: “I”
    • Line 35: “I”
    • Line 36: “The,” “the”
    • Line 43: “And your”
    • Line 44: “And your”
    • Line 62: “And”
    • Line 63: “And”
    • Line 66: “And”
    • Line 67: “And”
    • Line 78: “They”
    • Line 79: “They”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “You do,” “do,” “you do,” “do”
    • Line 2: “shoe”
    • Line 5: “Barely daring,” “Achoo”
    • Line 6: “Daddy,” “have had”
    • Line 7: “died,” “I,” “time”
    • Line 9: “Ghastly statue”
    • Line 11: “freakish”
    • Line 12: “bean green,” “blue”
    • Line 13: “waters off,” “beautiful,” “Nauset”
    • Line 14: “you”
    • Line 15: “du”
    • Line 21: “two”
    • Line 22: “you”
    • Line 23: “Put,” “foot,” “root”
    • Line 24: “you”
    • Line 25: “tongue,” “stuck”
    • Line 26: “stuck”
    • Line 29: “you”
    • Line 32: “Jew”
    • Line 34: “Jew”
    • Line 35: “Jew”
    • Line 36: “snows,” “Tyrol,” “clear beer”
    • Line 37: “true”
    • Line 40: “Jew”
    • Line 41: “you”
    • Line 42: “gobbledygoo”
    • Line 44: “blue”
    • Line 45: “You”
    • Line 46: “God,” “swastika”
    • Line 47: “through”
    • Line 49: “boot,” “brute”
    • Line 50: “Brute,” “brute,” “you”
    • Line 52: “you”
    • Line 53: “foot”
    • Line 54: “less,” “devil”
    • Line 55: “less,” “who”
    • Line 56: “red,” “two”
    • Line 57: “ten when,” “you”
    • Line 58: “twenty,” “I tried,” “die”
    • Line 59: “get,” “back, back, back,” “you”
    • Line 60: “do”
    • Line 62: “glue”
    • Line 63: “knew,” “do”
    • Line 64: “you”
    • Line 66: “screw”
    • Line 67: “do,” “do”
    • Line 68: “through”
    • Line 69: “root”
    • Line 70: “through”
    • Line 71: “two”
    • Line 72: “you”
    • Line 74: “you”
    • Line 75: “Daddy,” “back”
    • Line 76: “fat black”
    • Line 77: “you”
    • Line 78: “dancing,” “stamping,” “you”
    • Line 79: “knew,” “you”
    • Line 80: “Daddy, daddy, you bastard,” “through”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “do,” “do,” “do,” “do”
    • Line 3: “lived like”
    • Lines 3-4: “foot / For thirty years, poor”
    • Line 5: “Barely daring,” “breathe”
    • Line 6: “Daddy,” “have had”
    • Line 7: “died,” “had”
    • Line 8: “Marble-heavy,” “bag full of God”
    • Line 9: “Ghastly statue”
    • Lines 9-10: “gray toe / Big”
    • Line 10: “Frisco”
    • Line 11: “freakish,” “Atlantic”
    • Line 12: “bean green,” “blue”
    • Line 13: “off beautiful Nauset”
    • Line 16: “tongue,” “town”
    • Line 17: “Scraped,” “roller”
    • Line 18: “wars, wars, wars”
    • Line 19: “name,” “town,” “common”
    • Line 21: “two”
    • Line 22: “tell”
    • Line 23: “Put,” “foot,” “root”
    • Line 24: “talk to”
    • Line 25: “tongue stuck”
    • Line 26: “stuck,” “barb wire snare”
    • Line 27: “Ich, ich, ich, ich”
    • Line 28: “could,” “speak”
    • Lines 31-32: “An engine, an engine / Chuffing”
    • Line 32: “off,” “Jew”
    • Line 33: “Jew”
    • Line 36: “clear beer”
    • Line 37: “very pure or true”
    • Line 38: “gipsy ancestress,” “luck”
    • Line 39: “Taroc pack,” “Taroc pack”
    • Line 44: “bright blue”
    • Line 46: “swastika”
    • Line 47: “So black,” “sky could squeak”
    • Line 48: “Fascist”
    • Line 49: “boot,” “face”
    • Lines 49-50: “brute / Brute heart”
    • Line 50: “brute”
    • Line 51: “blackboard,” “daddy”
    • Line 52: “picture”
    • Line 53: “cleft”
    • Line 54: “But,” “less,” “devil,” “no not”
    • Line 55: “less,” “black man”
    • Line 56: “Bit,” “pretty red heart,” “two”
    • Line 57: “ten,” “buried”
    • Line 58: “At twenty,” “tried to”
    • Line 59: “back, back, back”
    • Line 60: “bones”
    • Line 61: “sack”
    • Line 62: “stuck”
    • Line 64: “made,” “model”
    • Line 65: “man in black,” “Meinkampf look”
    • Line 66: “love,” “rack,” “screw”
    • Line 67: “said,” “do,” “do”
    • Line 68: “daddy”
    • Line 69: “telephone’s off”
    • Line 71: “killed,” “killed”
    • Line 73: “drank,” “blood”
    • Line 75: “can,” “back”
    • Line 76: “stake,” “black”
    • Line 77: “villagers never,” “liked”
    • Line 78: “dancing,” “stamping”
    • Line 80: “Daddy, daddy,” “bastard”

  • Epistrophe

    

    

    

    

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    Where epistrophe appears in the poem:

    • Line 32: “a Jew.”
    • Line 34: “a Jew.”
    • Line 35: “a Jew.”
    • Line 40: “a Jew.”
    • Line 77: “you.”
    • Line 78: “you.”
    • Line 79: “you.”

  • Epizeuxis

    

    

    

    

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    Where epizeuxis appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “You do not do, you do not do”
    • Line 18: “wars, wars, wars.”
    • Line 27: “Ich, ich, ich, ich,”
    • Line 31: “An engine, an engine”
    • Line 39: “And my Taroc pack and my Taroc pack”
    • Line 45: “Panzer-man, panzer-man”
    • Lines 49-50: “brute / Brute”
    • Line 59: “back, back, back”
    • Line 67: “I do, I do.”
    • Line 80: “Daddy, daddy,”

  • Diacope

    

    

    

    

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    Where diacope appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “do,” “do,” “do,” “do”
    • Line 22: “I never could”
    • Line 23: “your,” “your”
    • Line 24: “I never could”
    • Line 25: “stuck”
    • Line 26: “stuck”
    • Line 32: “Jew”
    • Line 34: “Jew”
    • Line 35: “Jew”
    • Line 49: “brute”
    • Line 50: “Brute,” “brute”
    • Line 54: “less”
    • Line 55: “ less”
    • Line 71: “killed,” “killed”
    • Line 73: “year”
    • Line 74: “ years”

  • Onomatopoeia

    

    

    

    

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    Where onomatopoeia appears in the poem:

    • Line 5: “Achoo”
    • Line 32: “Chuffing”
    • Line 42: “gobbledygoo”

• “Daddy” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Ghastly
  • Frisco
  • Nauset
  • Ach, du
  • Polack
  • Barb wire
  • Ich
  • Chuffing
  • Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen
  • Tyrol
  • Vienna
  • Gipsy
  • Taroc pack
  • Luftwaffe
  • Gobbledygoo
  • Aryan
  • Panzer-man
  • Swastika
  • Fascist
  • Brute
  • Cleft
  • Meinkampf
  • The rack and the screw
  • (Location in poem: Line 9: “Ghastly”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Daddy”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Daddy” Speaker

• “Daddy” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Daddy”

• More “Daddy” Resources

  • External Resources

    • The Poem Out Loud — "Daddy" as read by Sylvia Plath for BBC Radio.

    • Who was Otto Plath? — A Guardian article regarding the inspiration for "Daddy": Plath's own father, Otto Plath.

    • Biography and More Poems — A biographical account of Plath's life and additional poems, courtesy of the Poetry Foundation.

    • A Short Introduction to Plath's Poetry — Benjamin Voigt breaks down a few of Plath's most famous poems. 

    • An Interview With the Poet — A 1962 interview with Sylvia Plath, conducted by Peter Orr.

    • Confessionalism — A brief introduction to Confessionalism, a poetic moment that helps contextualize Plath's work. 

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Sylvia Plath

    • Ariel

    • Cut

    • Edge

    • Fever 103°

    • Kindness

    • Lady Lazarus

    • Mad Girl's Love Song

    • Metaphors

    • Mirror

    • Morning Song

    • Nick and the Candlestick

    • Poppies in July

    • Poppies in October

    • Sheep in Fog

    • Sow

    • The Applicant

    • The Arrival of the Bee Box

    • The Moon and the Yew Tree

    • The Munich Mannequins

    • The Night Dances

    • Tulips

    • Words

    • You're

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