Expressing Hate and Disgust in Daddy Word Count Includes Poem Sylvia Plath, author of the confessional poem "Daddy", uses many stylistic devices in the poem to develop a negative attitude towards men, namely her adulterous husband and her absent father. “Daddy” uses metaphor, diction, allusion, irony, and imagery to produce a tone of hatred and disgust at his relationships with both men. In lines 71-80, Plath's imagery brings an end to both the poem and any desire for continuity of either relationship. Plath uses the image of a vampire to represent her husband and father. and expressions such as "a stake through your big black heart," "I drank my blood for a year," and "the vampire who said he was you" show that Plath viewed both men as monsters. Plath also says, "If I killed one man, I killed two ---", which is ironic because she chose as her husband someone similar to the father she hates. These last ten lines conclude a poem filled with anguish. “Dad, Dad, you bastard, I'm done” reveals that Plath's apostrophe (talking to her deceased father) is intended to finally put to rest the feelings that have tortured her for years. Plath uses metaphor and hyperbole to illustrate how much of her life was occupied by her father. "...a bag full of God" is used as a metaphor for her father, who, when she was little, was the center of Plath's world. This is also illustrated in lines 9-11: "Horrible statue with one gray toe/As big as a Frisco seal/And a head in the queer Atlantic." Plath felt that her father was so imposing and immense that he s spanning from the Atlantic to San Francisco, with the main man in her life being her father, Sylvia felt that all men were superior to her no matter what, and that she would always be subordinate. he allusions to Hitler and Nazi Germany "Barbed Wire Trap", "Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen", "German Language", "Luftwaffe" and "Neat Mustache/And Your Aryan Eye, Bright Blue" all point to Plath. imagines her father as an extremely controlling and evil Nazi, and Plath uses biting sarcasm to illustrate her dislike: "Every woman loves a fascist" Plath also uses a comparison between her father and the devil to develop the attitude. which men are bad: “A cleft in the chin instead of the foot/ But no. less of a devil for that." Cloven hooves, a supposed characteristic of the devil, are possessed by her father, but on his chin. Using many stylistic devices, Plath succeeds in creating a tone of hatred, disgust and finality. Relationships with men were by no means her strong suit, and Plath's negative attitude towards men is clear Dad 1 You don't, you don't2 More, black shoe3 In which I lived as. a foot4 For thirty years, poor and white,5 Barely daring to breathe or Achoo.6 Dad, I had to kill you 7 You died before I had time8 Heavy in marble, a bag full of God. ,9 Horrible statue with a gray toe10 As big as a Frisco seal11 And a head in the weird Atlantic12 Where she pours bean green on blue13 In the waters off fair Nauset 14 I prayed to get you back.15 Ach. , from.16 In German language, in the Polish city17 Scratched flat by the roller18 Wars, wars, wars.19 But the name of the city is common.20 My friend Polack21 He says there is one dozen or two.22 So I never could tell where you23 Put your foot, your root,24 I could never talk to you.25 Tongue stuck in my jaw.26 She's stuck in a barbed wire trap .27 Ich, ich, ich, ich,28 I could barely speak.29 I 1962 (#183)