Poetry Essay
The main relationship in the two poems “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke and “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath is portrayed by the bond between a father and his child. Though both poems have the same overall subject, they can be perceived differently. In “Daddy”, Sylvia Plath represented the relationship through a dark demeanor. While in “My Papa’s Waltz” it had a lighter perception.
In “Daddy” the poem goes through stages of dislike and anger. It starts off as if saying the child is done keeping the memory of his/her dead father. The stanza, “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.” , is describing how the father’s death was emotionally hard on the child and how the child remained in the father’s memory or ‘shoe’. The line “For thirty years, poor and white” describes the time that the child remained stuck in the memory and the grieving of their father. The child was so mentally/physically attached to this memory of the father that he/she doesn’t think much of their own life, hence the part, “poor and white.”
As the poem continues on, Sylvia Plath goes on to describe the anger and resentment from the child towards the father. A strong example of this is when the child begins to compare the father to many things that can be perceived as unkindly. The first thing the father is compared to is Hitler. “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——” This stanza describes, in appearance, the likeness of Hitler and the father. The father is then compared to the devil in the lines, “A cleft in your chin instead of your foot; But no less a devil for that, no not; Any less the black man who…” This section describes the father as no better than the devil. The final comparative for the father is that of a vampire, sucking the blood, or life from
In “Daddy” the poem goes through stages of dislike and anger. It starts off as if saying the child is done keeping the memory of his/her dead father. The stanza, “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.” , is describing how the father’s death was emotionally hard on the child and how the child remained in the father’s memory or ‘shoe’. The line “For thirty years, poor and white” describes the time that the child remained stuck in the memory and the grieving of their father. The child was so mentally/physically attached to this memory of the father that he/she doesn’t think much of their own life, hence the part, “poor and white.”
As the poem continues on, Sylvia Plath goes on to describe the anger and resentment from the child towards the father. A strong example of this is when the child begins to compare the father to many things that can be perceived as unkindly. The first thing the father is compared to is Hitler. “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——” This stanza describes, in appearance, the likeness of Hitler and the father. The father is then compared to the devil in the lines, “A cleft in your chin instead of your foot; But no less a devil for that, no not; Any less the black man who…” This section describes the father as no better than the devil. The final comparative for the father is that of a vampire, sucking the blood, or life from