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Imagery And Allusion In Sylvia Plath's 'Daddy'

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In “Daddy”, poet Sylvia Plath uses imagery and allusion to show her bad relationship she had with her father, how her life was miserable while she was writing the poem, and blaming her father for her status by comparing her depression to the holocaust during World War 2, thereby suggesting that her pain is greater than a world catastrophe. Plath starts off with Imagery in lines 6-8 “Daddy, I have had to kill you./you died before I had time-/Marble-heavy, a bag full of god”. In this sentence Plath talks about how her father is deceased, and describing him as a known and strong godly figure with the words “Marble-heavy” and “god.” This line also goes back to the holocaust allusion that is shown in the poem. When Hitler ruled Germany, he was also described as a godly figure. Hitler also had many statues of himself, or figures that represented him and his rule. Also, in line 6 Plath mentions her father as “daddy” emphasizing on the childlike sounds. Plath does this to remind the reader that she is writing about her relationship wither father from a very young age.
Next, imagery is shown again in lines 32-33 “chuffing me off like a Jew./A Jew to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen.” Here, Plath describes herself as a Jew and names many of the concentration camps that were established in Germany during the holocaust. Again, Plath …show more content…

Even when she realized the reality of her father, she still tries to go back to him. In lines 58-61 “At twenty I tried to die……………/And they stuck me together with glue” Plath uses imagery to show that even as bad as Hitler, she will always look up to her

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