Two poems penned by two powerful female voices who have made immense contributions in the literary world make for an interesting and insightful study. Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” and Adrienne Rich’s “Diving Into the Wreck” are remarkable poems that share striking similarities and differences.
In terms of poetry type, “Daddy” is a lyrical poem that expresses without inhibition the sentiments of a daughter, Sylvia Plath, for a father whom she depicts as tyrannical, almost violent, and brutal. For instance, in the 10th stanza Plath writes: “Every woman adores a Fascist,/ The boot in the face, the brute/ Brute heart of a brute like you” (Perkins & Perkins 1666). Here she clearly expresses her angst towards one of the pivotal men in her life; a detached father with an “imperious and remote personality (and) gave his children personal attention for only thirty minutes each day” (Axelrod). The poet also refers to another person – her husband Ted Hughes – who became part of her personal world as well as becoming a father figure but robbed her spirit. In fact, she compared him to a vampire in the 15th stanza: “The vampire who said he was you/ And drank my blood for a year” (Perkins & Perkins 1667). Here Sylvia Plath clearly referred to her husband with whom she had fallen out.
Sylvia Plath likewise expresses relief upon reaching actualization of her desire to be free from stifling conditions represented mainly by her father through this last line in her poem: “Daddy daddy you bastard I’m through” (Perkins & Perkins 1667). She ends up expressing her rejection of institutions like family and society.
On the other hand, Diving Into the Wreck” is a narrative poem that relates an underwater journey leading to “the wreck.” This metaphor represents the plight of women in age-old patriarchal society. Adrienne Rich uses rich figurative language to describe this journey in spatial order.
I came to explore the wreck.
The words serve a purpose.
The words are maps.
I came to see the damage that was done.
And the treasures that prevail (Perkins & Perkins, 1654).
“Diving Into the Wreck” is a narrative poem that also expresses the author’s innermost sentiments. Adrienne Rich reflects on a feminist dilemma as she laments, there is no one to tell me when the ocean will begin” (Perkins & Perkins 1653) while exploring the depths of the sea to find her way to the wreck. Her poem bears similarity to Sylvia Plath’s acknowledgment of both weakness and fortitude in facing adversity or external forces. In the fourth stanza, Rich mirrors how a woman can uphold her individuality and strength.
I am blacking out, and yet…
My mask is powerful.
It pumps my blood with power.
The sea is another story.
The sea is not a question of power.
I have to learn alone.
To turn my body without force.
In the deep element.
It can be gleaned from the stanza above that Adrienne Rich was exploring the dominant theme of women’s role in society” (“Groundbreaking Book,” par. 2) or her struggle to assert herself, which finds common ground in Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy.” Sylvia Plath likewise asserts her individuality and seems to be expressing either of two things – regaining her freedom or giving up when she repeats through words intended for her father that she is through. Through her poetry, Plath mirrors her suppressed state with the use of imagery and literary devices. Right from the start and throughout her poem, she delivers a powerful statement using several figures of speech such as:
You do not do, you do not do.
Any more black shoes?
In which I have lived like a foot.
For thirty years, I was poor and white.
Barely daring to breathe or sneeze.
Plath employs a simile to compare her cloistered and subdued self to a foot in a shoe. She uses the color black to depict the gloomy condition she is in. The poet utilizes emphatic repetition of words to drive home her message of struggling against oppressive forces, regaining individuality and freedom. In the seventh stanza, Plath repeats the phrase like a Jew” (Perkins & Perkins 1666). In the 10th stanza, she repeats the word “brute” to emphasize how she feels about her father: “The boot in the face, the brute / Brute heart of a brute like you” (Perkins & Perkins 1666). Plath also uses personification when referring to nature and inanimate objects.
As both Diving Into the Wreck” and “Daddy” progress, the reader senses anger, bitterness, and disappointment emanating from the female speakers due to an imperfect male-subjugated society. Both poems use literary devices such as metaphors, allusions, and vivid imagery to underscore common themes – notably women’s plight and sense of desperation in striving to rise above societal challenges. The poems also make continuous references to a villain through metaphors and similes.
In “Diving Into the Wreck,” the villain is a patriarchal culture that inherently devalues anything female or feminine. In contrast, “Daddy” makes constant figurative references to Plath’s father as an authoritarian figure who is likened by his daughter (who may well be a Jew) to a tyrannical ruler. Allusion as well as the metaphor of the Holocaust are continually utilized in both poems to lend impact to their key messages.
Readers may feel uncomfortable with the suprapersonal mythical depiction of Jewish suffering in such poems because they feel somehow implicated (due to their traditional identification with the lyric persona) in voyeurism that assimilates Holocaust implications (Strangeways).
Both Daddy” and “Diving Into the Wreck” utilize informal or conversational language in their respective poems. However, there are numerous allusions present in both works that lend a more formal tone. In “Diving Into the Wreck,” the author uses first person point of view to compare herself to French underwater explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau. After describing her underwater journey in vivid detail, Adrienne Rich reaches the main object of her exploration and depicts a wrecked womanhood and/or culture itself, as seen in the controversial stanza:
The thing I came for:
The focus is on the wreck itself, rather than the story surrounding it.
The thing itself, and not the myth.
The drowned face is always staring.
Toward the sun.
The evidence of damage.
Worn by salt and away” into this threadbare beauty (Perkins & Perkins, 1654).
Adrienne Rich employs informal language in an imaginative way to convey her central message. Her poetic career and transformation play a significant role in her later works, including Diving Into the Wreck.” This poem emphasizes socio-cultural realities from a feminist perspective. As Pettit notes, “In it she expresses her anger regarding women’s position in Western culture more directly and alludes to problematic dualities or images of Otherness” (par. 10). As a poet, Rich emphasizes the importance of words and uses them effectively to express her search for something lost and lament at how society’s limited view has contributed to the wrecked state of humanity. She describes both the wreck itself and those who witness it as “half-wedged and left to rot / we are the half-destroyed instruments / that once held to a course / the water-eaten log / the fouled compass… We are, I am, you are by cowardice or courage the one who find our way back to this scene carrying a knife, a camera / a book of myths in which our names do not appear” (Perkins & Perkins 1655). Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” also uses first-person point of view but shifts to second person when addressing her father as an object of angst. She expresses mocking adulation as well as disdain for him by likening him to various figures – God, despotic rulers, even the devil – using masterful language and symbolism that educated readers can easily understand. Readers gain insight into Plath’s father and his ability to evoke fear when she says: “I have always been scared of you,/With your Luftwaffe, your gobbledygook./And your neat mustache/And your Aryan eye bright blue” (Perkins & Perkins 1666). Overall, words play an essential role in conveying underlying meanings in both poems.
When analyzing the poetic rhythm and structure of Sylvia Plath’s Daddy,” it becomes apparent that it follows a nursery rhyme-like structure with a singsong rhythmic pattern. This gives the impression that the piece is being recited by an angry and disappointed child. However, upon closer examination:
The strong and simple rhythm, the full rhymes and subtle half-rhymes, and the repetitive incantatory vowel sounds sweep the poem along in a jaunty approximation to a ballad. Sylvia Plath described this poem as a piece of light verse,” focusing attention on its flippant, choppy, conversational swing. (“On Daddy”)
Sylvia Plath’s Daddy” reads like a diary or journal, and the rhythm builds up to a climax that relates well to the dominant theme of the poem. On the other hand, “Diving Into the Wreck” by Adrienne Rich is more of a free verse and does not have regular rhythm. It deviates from traditional poetic form and adopts a pure narrative style. However, there is structure in it. “Diving Into the Wreck” opens using iambic pentameter, which is commonly utilized in classic poetry or drama and English verse. The entire poem consists of ten stanzas with nearly the same length ranging from eight to twelve lines each. The shift or transition from one idea or perspective to another is indicated by starting a new stanza. Rhythm plays an important role in poetry because it helps convey a poem’s mood and, combined with other poetic elements, conveys emphasis and communicates meaning (Kirszner and Mandell 743). This is very well achieved in both Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” and Adrienne Rich’s “Diving Into the Wreck.”
Overall, the two literary pieces by celebrated poets provide a sublime experience for generations of readers. They are able to identify with the issues and meanings powerfully conveyed through language, style, and other literary techniques.
Works Cited.
Axelrod, Steven. Sylvia Plath.” The Literary Encyclopedia. 17 September 2003. 21 April.
In 2009, the Litencyc website provided information about a person with the UID 3579. Visit http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3579 for more details.
Adrienne Rich’s groundbreaking book, Diving Into the Wreck,” was published in 1973. This work remains a significant contribution to feminist literature and poetry. On April 20th, 2009, poets.org featured an article about the book which can be accessed at http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/pprmMID/5975.
Kirszner and Laurie, along with Stephen Mandell, authored the book Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. This is the second edition of the book published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc. in 1994.
Daddy” by Sylvia Plath is a poem that explores the complicated relationship between a daughter and her father. The speaker in the poem expresses feelings of both love and hate towards her father, who she sees as both a powerful figure and an oppressive force in her life. Through vivid imagery and intense language, Plath creates a haunting portrait of this complex emotional dynamic.
Source: On Daddy. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2009 from http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/plath/daddy.htm.
Perkins, George, and Barbara Perkins edited The American Tradition in Literature,” which is now in its 10th edition. The book was published by McGraw Hill in 2002.
Pettit, Rhonda. Biography of Adrienne Rich.” Online Posting. 2001. Retrieved on 21 April 2009 from http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/adrienne_rich.
Strangeways, Al. The Boot in the Face”: The Problem of the Holocaust in the Poetry of Sylvia Plath. 1999. Retrieved on April 21, 2009 from http://www.sylviaplath.de/plath/strangeways.html.
