Expressing Hate and Disgust in Daddy Word count includes the poem Sylvia Plath, author of the confessional poem "Daddy", uses many stylistic devices in the poem to develop a negative attitude towards men, namely the adulterous husband and the absent father. “Dad” uses metaphor, diction, allusion, irony, and imagery to produce a tone of hatred and disgust for her relationships with both men. In lines 71-80, Plath's imagery concludes both the poem and any desire for continuity of both relationships. Plath uses the image of a vampire to represent her husband and father. and lines like "a stake through your fat black heart," "drank my blood for a year," and "the vampire who said he was you" show that Plath thought of these two men as monsters. Plath also says, "If I have killed one man, I have killed two---", which is ironic because she chose as a husband someone similar to the father she hates. These last ten lines conclude a poem full of anguish. “Daddy, Daddy, you bastard, I'm done” reveals that Plath's apostrophe (talking to her dead father) is meant to finally let the feelings that have tortured her for years rest. Plath uses metaphors and hyperbole to illustrate the large part of her life occupied by her father. “…a bag full of God” is used as a metaphor for her father, who, when she was a child, was the center of Plath's world. This is also illustrated in lines 9-11: “Horrible statue with a gray finger / Big as a Frisco seal / And a head in the strange Atlantic.” Plath felt that her father was so imposing and enormous that he stretched from the Atlantic to San Fransico. With her father being the main man in her life, Sylvia felt that all men were superior to her, no matter what, and that she would always be subordinate. "Dad" is full of allusions to Hitler and Nazi Germany. "Barbed Wire Snare", "Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen", "German Language", "Luftwaffe" and "Clean Mustache / And Your Aryan Eye, Bright Blue" all show that Plath imagines her father as an extremely controlling Nazi and evil. and insensitive. 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 that men are evil: "A cleft in the chin instead of the foot / But no less a devil for that." Cleft hooves, a supposed characteristic of the devil, are possessed by his father, but on the chin. Using many stylistic devices, Plath manages to create a tone of hatred, disgust, and finality. Relationships with men were not her strong point at all, and Plath's negative attitude towards men is clear. Daddy 1 You don't, you don't anymore2 Black shoe3 In which I lived like a foot4 For thirty years, poor and white,5 Barely daring to breathe or Achoo.6 Daddy, I had to kill you. 7 You died before I had time8 Heavy as marble, a bag full of God,9 Horrible statue with a gray finger10 Big as a Frisco seal11 And a head in the strange Atlantic12 Where it pours bean green on the blue13 In the waters off fair Nauset . 14 I prayed for you to get well.15 Ach, du.16 In the German language, in the Polish city17 Scraped from the roller18 Of wars, wars, wars.19 But the name of the city is common.20 My Polish friend21 He says there are a dozen or two.22 So I could never tell where you are23 Put your foot, your root,24 I could never talk to you.25 My tongue got stuck in my jaw.26 Got stuck in a barbed wire trap.27 Ich I began to speak like a Jew.35 I think I might well be a Jew.36 The snows of Tyrol, the lager of Vienna37 They are not very pure or true.38 With my gypsy ancestor and the 1962 (#183)