“Daddy” Introduction

• Read the full text of “Daddy”

“Daddy” Summary

“Daddy” Themes

• 

  Gender and Oppression

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-80
• 

  Power and Myth-Making

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-5
  • Lines 6-14
  • Lines 22-23
  • Lines 24-28
  • Line 29
  • Lines 30-35
  • Lines 36-37
  • Lines 38-40
  • Lines 41-45
  • Lines 46-56
  • Lines 64-67
  • Lines 71-80
• 

  Death and Family Trauma

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-7
  • Lines 8-13
  • Lines 14-15
  • Line 29
  • Lines 41-67
  • Lines 68-70
  • Line 71
  • Lines 75-80

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Daddy”

• Lines 1-5

  You do not ...
  ... breathe or Achoo.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 6-10

  Daddy, I have ...
  ... a Frisco seal

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 11-15

  And a head ...
  ... Ach, du.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 16-21

  In the German ...
  ... dozen or two.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 22-27

  So I never ...
  ... ich, ich, ich,

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 28-33

  I could hardly ...
  ... Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 34-39

  I began to ...
  ... my Taroc pack

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 40-45

  I may be ...
  ... panzer-man, O You—

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 46-50

  Not God but ...
  ... brute like you.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 51-56

  You stand at ...
  ... heart in two.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 57-62

  I was ten ...
  ... together with glue.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 63-68

  And then I ...
  ... I’m finally through.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 69-74

  The black telephone’s ...
  ... want to know.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 75-80

  Daddy, you can ...
  ... bastard, I’m through.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

“Daddy” Symbols

• 

  Blackness

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Line 2: “black shoe”
  • Lines 46-47: “Not God but a swastika / So black no sky could squeak through.”
  • Lines 54-56: “no not / Any less the black man who / Bit my pretty red heart in two.”
  • Line 65: “A man in black with a Meinkampf look”
  • Line 69: “The black telephone’s off at the root”
• 

  Holocaust Imagery

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Line 15: “Ach, du.”
  • Lines 16-21: “In the German tongue, in the Polish town / Scraped flat by the roller / Of wars, wars, wars. / But the name of the town is common. / My Polack friend / Says there are a dozen or two.”
  • Lines 26-35: “It stuck in a barb wire snare. / Ich, ich, ich, ich, / I could hardly speak. / I thought every German was you. / And the language obscene / An engine, an engine / Chuffing me off like a Jew. / A Jew to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen. / I began to talk like a Jew. / I think I may well be a Jew.”
  • Lines 36-45: “The snows of the Tyrol, the clear beer of Vienna / Are not very pure or true. / With my gipsy ancestress and my weird luck  / And my Taroc pack and my Taroc pack / I may be a bit of a Jew. / 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—”
  • Lines 46-47: “Not God but a swastika / So black no sky could squeak through.”
  • Line 48: “Every woman adores a Fascist,”
  • Line 65: “A man in black with a Meinkampf look”
• 

  The Telephone

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Lines 69-70: “The black telephone’s off at the root, / The voices just can’t worm through.”
• 

  Daddy

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Line 6: “Daddy, I have had to kill you.”
  • Line 68: “So daddy, I’m finally through.”
  • Line 75: “Daddy, you can lie back now.”
  • Line 80: “Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through.”

“Daddy” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Apostrophe

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where apostrophe appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-2: “You do not do, you do not do / Any more, black shoe”
  • Lines 6-7: “Daddy, I have had to kill you. / You died before I had time—”
  • Lines 14-15: “I used to pray to recover you. / Ach, du.”
  • Lines 22-24: “So I never could tell where you / Put your foot, your root, / I never could talk to you.”
  • Line 29: “I thought every German was you.”
  • Lines 41-45: “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—”
  • Lines 50-53: “Brute heart of a brute like you. / You stand at the blackboard, daddy, / In the picture I have of you, / A cleft in your chin instead of your foot”
  • Line 57: “I was ten when they buried you.”
  • Line 59: “And get back, back, back to you.”
  • Line 64: “I made a model of you,”
  • Line 68: “So daddy, I’m finally through.”
  • Line 72: “The vampire who said he was you”
  • Lines 74-80: “Seven years, if you want to know. / Daddy, you can lie back now. / There’s a stake in your fat black heart / And the villagers never liked you. / They are dancing and stamping on you. / They always  / knew / it was you. / Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through.”

• Asyndeton

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where asyndeton appears in the poem:

  • Lines 8-9: “Marble-heavy, a bag full of God, / Ghastly statue with one gray toe”
  • Line 16: “In the German tongue, in the Polish town”
  • Line 18: “wars, wars, wars.”
  • Line 23: “your foot, your root,”
  • Line 33: “A Jew to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen.”
  • Line 36: “The snows of the Tyrol, the clear beer of Vienna”
  • Line 42: “With your Luftwaffe, your gobbledygoo.”

• Simile

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where simile appears in the poem:

  • Lines 2-3: “black shoe / In which I have lived like a foot”
  • Lines 9-10: “one gray toe / Big as a Frisco seal”
  • Line 32: “Chuffing me off like a Jew.”
  • Line 34: “I began to talk like a Jew.”

• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where metaphor appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-5
  • Line 8
  • Lines 9-11
  • Lines 16-18
  • Lines 22-23
  • Lines 25-47
  • Lines 54-56
  • Lines 61-62
  • Line 66
  • Lines 69-70
  • Lines 71-80

• Imagery

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where imagery appears in the poem:

  • Lines 2-5: “ black shoe / In which I have lived like a foot / For thirty years, poor and white, / Barely daring to breathe or Achoo.”
  • Lines 8-13: “Marble-heavy, a bag full of God, / Ghastly statue with one gray toe / Big as a Frisco seal / And a head in the freakish Atlantic / Where it pours bean green over blue / In the waters off beautiful Nauset.”
  • Lines 16-18: “town / Scraped flat by the roller / Of wars, wars, wars.”
  • Lines 25-26: “The tongue stuck in my jaw. / It stuck in a barb wire snare.”
  • Lines 31-32: “An engine, an engine / Chuffing me off like a Jew.”
  • Lines 36-37: “The snows of the Tyrol, the clear beer of Vienna / Are not very pure or true.”
  • Lines 43-44: “And your neat mustache / And your Aryan eye, bright blue.”
  • Lines 46-47: “a swastika / So black no sky could squeak through.”
  • Line 49: “The boot in the face,”
  • Lines 51-53: “You stand at the blackboard, daddy, / In the picture I have of you, / A cleft in your chin instead of your foot”
  • Line 56: “Bit my pretty red heart in two.”
  • Lines 61-62: “But they pulled me out of the sack, / And they stuck me together with glue.”
  • Line 65: “A man in black with a Meinkampf look”
  • Lines 69-70: “The black telephone’s off at the root, / The voices just can’t worm through.”
  • Lines 72-73: “The vampire who said he was you / And drank my blood for a year,”
  • Line 76: “There’s a stake in your fat black heart”
  • Line 78: “They are dancing and stamping on you.”

• Allusion

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where allusion appears in the poem:

  • Lines 2-3: “shoe / In which I have lived like a foot”
  • Lines 9-10: “one gray toe / Big as a Frisco seal”
  • Lines 11-13: “And a head in the freakish Atlantic / Where it pours bean green over blue / In the waters off beautiful Nauset.”
  • Lines 16-19: “the Polish town / Scraped flat by the roller / Of wars, wars, wars. / But the name of the town is common.”
  • Lines 31-33: “An engine, an engine / Chuffing me off like a Jew. / A Jew to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen.”
  • Lines 36-39: “The snows of the Tyrol, the clear beer of Vienna / Are not very pure or true. / With my gipsy ancestress and my weird luck  / And my Taroc pack and my Taroc pack”
  • Lines 41-46: “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— / Not God but a swastika”
  • Lines 57-59: “I was ten when they buried you. / At twenty I tried to die / And get back, back, back to you.”
  • Line 61: “But they pulled me out of the sack,”
  • Line 65: “Meinkampf”
  • Line 66: “And a love of the rack and the screw.”

• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where enjambment appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-2: “do / Any”
  • Lines 2-3: “shoe / In”
  • Lines 3-4: “foot / For”
  • Lines 9-10: “toe / Big”
  • Lines 10-11: “seal / And”
  • Lines 11-12: “Atlantic / Where”
  • Lines 12-13: “blue / In”
  • Lines 16-17: “town / Scraped”
  • Lines 17-18: “roller / Of”
  • Lines 20-21: “friend / Says”
  • Lines 22-23: “you / Put”
  • Lines 30-31: “obscene / An”
  • Lines 31-32: “engine / Chuffing”
  • Lines 36-37: “Vienna / Are”
  • Lines 38-39: “luck  / And”
  • Lines 39-40: “pack / I”
  • Lines 43-44: “mustache / And”
  • Lines 46-47: “swastika / So”
  • Lines 49-50: “brute / Brute”
  • Lines 53-54: “foot / But”
  • Lines 54-55: “not / Any”
  • Lines 55-56: “who / Bit”
  • Lines 58-59: “die / And”
  • Lines 65-66: “look / And”
  • Lines 72-73: “you / And”
  • Lines 76-77: “heart / And”

• End-Stopped Line

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where end-stopped line appears in the poem:

  • Line 4: “white,”
  • Line 5: “Achoo.”
  • Line 6: “you.”
  • Line 7: “time—”
  • Line 8: “God,”
  • Line 13: “Nauset.”
  • Line 14: “you.”
  • Line 15: “du.”
  • Line 18: “wars.”
  • Line 19: “common.”
  • Line 21: “two.”
  • Line 23: “root,”
  • Line 24: “you.”
  • Line 25: “jaw.”
  • Line 26: “snare.”
  • Line 27: “ich,”
  • Line 28: “speak.”
  • Line 29: “you.”
  • Line 32: “Jew.”
  • Line 33: “Belsen.”
  • Line 34: “Jew.”
  • Line 35: “Jew.”
  • Line 37: “true.”
  • Line 40: “Jew.”
  • Line 41: “you,”
  • Line 42: “gobbledygoo.”
  • Line 44: “blue.”
  • Line 47: “through.”
  • Line 48: “Fascist,”
  • Line 50: “you.”
  • Line 51: “daddy,”
  • Line 52: “you,”
  • Line 56: “two.”
  • Line 57: “you.”
  • Line 59: “you.”
  • Line 60: “do.”
  • Line 61: “sack,”
  • Line 62: “glue.”
  • Line 63: “do.”
  • Line 64: “you,”
  • Line 66: “screw.”
  • Line 67: “do.”
  • Line 68: “through.”
  • Line 69: “root,”
  • Line 70: “through.”
  • Line 71: “two—”
  • Line 73: “year,”
  • Line 74: “know.”
  • Line 75: “now.”
  • Line 77: “you.”
  • Line 78: “you.”
  • Line 79: “you.”
  • Line 80: “through.”

• Caesura

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where caesura appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “do, you”
  • Line 2: “more, black”
  • Line 4: “years, poor”
  • Line 6: “Daddy, I”
  • Line 8: “Marble-heavy, a”
  • Line 15: “Ach, du”
  • Line 16: “tongue, in”
  • Line 18: “wars, wars, wars”
  • Line 23: “foot, your”
  • Line 27: “Ich, ich, ich, ich”
  • Line 31: “engine, an”
  • Line 33: “Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen”
  • Line 36: “Tyrol, the”
  • Line 42: “Luftwaffe, your”
  • Line 44: “eye, bright”
  • Line 45: “Panzer-man, panzer-man, O”
  • Line 49: “face, the”
  • Line 51: “blackboard, daddy”
  • Line 54: “that, no”
  • Line 59: “back, back, back”
  • Line 67: “do, I”
  • Line 68: “daddy, I’m”
  • Line 71: “man, I’ve”
  • Line 74: “years, if”
  • Line 75: “Daddy, you”
  • Line 80: “Daddy, daddy, you,” “bastard, I’m”

• Repetition

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where repetition appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “You do not do, you do not do”
  • Line 16: “In the,” “in the”
  • Line 18: “wars, wars, wars.”
  • Line 22: “I never could”
  • Line 23: “your,” “your”
  • Line 24: “I never could”
  • Line 25: “stuck”
  • Line 26: “stuck”
  • Line 27: “Ich, ich, ich, ich,”
  • Line 31: “An engine, an engine”
  • Line 32: “a Jew.”
  • Line 33: “A Jew”
  • Line 34: “a Jew.”
  • Line 35: “a Jew.”
  • Line 39: “And my Taroc pack and my Taroc pack”
  • Line 40: “a Jew.”
  • Line 42: “your,” “your”
  • Line 43: “And your”
  • Line 44: “And your”
  • Line 45: “Panzer-man, panzer-man,”
  • Line 49: “brute”
  • Line 50: “Brute,” “brute”
  • Line 54: “less”
  • Line 55: “less”
  • Line 59: “back, back, back”
  • Line 60: “do.”
  • Line 62: “And”
  • Line 63: “And,” “do.”
  • Line 66: “And”
  • Line 67: “And,” “I do, I do.”
  • Line 71: “I’ve killed,” “I’ve killed”
  • Line 73: “year,”
  • Line 74: “years”
  • Line 77: “you.”
  • Line 78: “They,” “you.”
  • Line 79: “They,” “you.”
  • Line 80: “Daddy, daddy,”

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where alliteration appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “do,” “do,” “do,” “do”
  • Line 3: “lived like”
  • Lines 3-4: “foot / For”
  • Line 5: “daring”
  • Line 6: “Daddy,” “have had”
  • Line 7: “died”
  • Line 8: “bag,” “full,” “God”
  • Line 9: “Ghastly,” “gray”
  • Line 10: “Big,” “Frisco”
  • Line 11: “freakish”
  • Line 12: “bean,” “green,” “blue”
  • Line 13: “beautiful”
  • Line 16: “tongue,” “town”
  • Line 18: “wars, wars, wars”
  • Line 24: “talk to”
  • Line 25: “tongue,” “stuck”
  • Line 26: “stuck,” “snare”
  • Line 27: “Ich, ich, ich, ich”
  • Line 44: “bright blue”
  • Line 46: “swastika”
  • Line 47: “So,” “sky,” “squeak”
  • Line 49: “boot”
  • Lines 49-50: “brute / Brute”
  • Line 50: “brute”
  • Line 51: “blackboard”
  • Line 54: “no,” “no not”
  • Line 55: “black”
  • Line 56: “Bit,” “two”
  • Line 57: “ten,” “buried”
  • Line 58: “twenty,” “tried,” “to”
  • Line 59: “back, back, back”
  • Line 60: “bones”
  • Line 61: “But,” “sack”
  • Line 62: “stuck,” “together,” “glue”
  • Line 64: “made,” “model”
  • Line 65: “man,” “black,” “Meinkampf,” “look”
  • Line 66: “love”

• Anadiplosis

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where anadiplosis appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “You do not do, you do not do”
  • Line 31: “An engine, an engine”
  • Line 32: “a Jew.”
  • Line 33: “A Jew”
  • Line 71: “If I’ve killed one man, I’ve killed two—”
  • Lines 73-74: “year, / Seven years”

• Anaphora

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where anaphora appears in the poem:

  • Line 16: “In the,” “in the”
  • Line 34: “I”
  • Line 35: “I”
  • Line 36: “The,” “the”
  • Line 43: “And your”
  • Line 44: “And your”
  • Line 62: “And”
  • Line 63: “And”
  • Line 66: “And”
  • Line 67: “And”
  • Line 78: “They”
  • Line 79: “They”

• Assonance

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where assonance appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “You do,” “do,” “you do,” “do”
  • Line 2: “shoe”
  • Line 5: “Barely daring,” “Achoo”
  • Line 6: “Daddy,” “have had”
  • Line 7: “died,” “I,” “time”
  • Line 9: “Ghastly statue”
  • Line 11: “freakish”
  • Line 12: “bean green,” “blue”
  • Line 13: “waters off,” “beautiful,” “Nauset”
  • Line 14: “you”
  • Line 15: “du”
  • Line 21: “two”
  • Line 22: “you”
  • Line 23: “Put,” “foot,” “root”
  • Line 24: “you”
  • Line 25: “tongue,” “stuck”
  • Line 26: “stuck”
  • Line 29: “you”
  • Line 32: “Jew”
  • Line 34: “Jew”
  • Line 35: “Jew”
  • Line 36: “snows,” “Tyrol,” “clear beer”
  • Line 37: “true”
  • Line 40: “Jew”
  • Line 41: “you”
  • Line 42: “gobbledygoo”
  • Line 44: “blue”
  • Line 45: “You”
  • Line 46: “God,” “swastika”
  • Line 47: “through”
  • Line 49: “boot,” “brute”
  • Line 50: “Brute,” “brute,” “you”
  • Line 52: “you”
  • Line 53: “foot”
  • Line 54: “less,” “devil”
  • Line 55: “less,” “who”
  • Line 56: “red,” “two”
  • Line 57: “ten when,” “you”
  • Line 58: “twenty,” “I tried,” “die”
  • Line 59: “get,” “back, back, back,” “you”
  • Line 60: “do”
  • Line 62: “glue”
  • Line 63: “knew,” “do”
  • Line 64: “you”
  • Line 66: “screw”
  • Line 67: “do,” “do”
  • Line 68: “through”
  • Line 69: “root”
  • Line 70: “through”
  • Line 71: “two”
  • Line 72: “you”
  • Line 74: “you”
  • Line 75: “Daddy,” “back”
  • Line 76: “fat black”
  • Line 77: “you”
  • Line 78: “dancing,” “stamping,” “you”
  • Line 79: “knew,” “you”
  • Line 80: “Daddy, daddy, you bastard,” “through”

• Consonance

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where consonance appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “do,” “do,” “do,” “do”
  • Line 3: “lived like”
  • Lines 3-4: “foot / For thirty years, poor”
  • Line 5: “Barely daring,” “breathe”
  • Line 6: “Daddy,” “have had”
  • Line 7: “died,” “had”
  • Line 8: “Marble-heavy,” “bag full of God”
  • Line 9: “Ghastly statue”
  • Lines 9-10: “gray toe / Big”
  • Line 10: “Frisco”
  • Line 11: “freakish,” “Atlantic”
  • Line 12: “bean green,” “blue”
  • Line 13: “off beautiful Nauset”
  • Line 16: “tongue,” “town”
  • Line 17: “Scraped,” “roller”
  • Line 18: “wars, wars, wars”
  • Line 19: “name,” “town,” “common”
  • Line 21: “two”
  • Line 22: “tell”
  • Line 23: “Put,” “foot,” “root”
  • Line 24: “talk to”
  • Line 25: “tongue stuck”
  • Line 26: “stuck,” “barb wire snare”
  • Line 27: “Ich, ich, ich, ich”
  • Line 28: “could,” “speak”
  • Lines 31-32: “An engine, an engine / Chuffing”
  • Line 32: “off,” “Jew”
  • Line 33: “Jew”
  • Line 36: “clear beer”
  • Line 37: “very pure or true”
  • Line 38: “gipsy ancestress,” “luck”
  • Line 39: “Taroc pack,” “Taroc pack”
  • Line 44: “bright blue”
  • Line 46: “swastika”
  • Line 47: “So black,” “sky could squeak”
  • Line 48: “Fascist”
  • Line 49: “boot,” “face”
  • Lines 49-50: “brute / Brute heart”
  • Line 50: “brute”
  • Line 51: “blackboard,” “daddy”
  • Line 52: “picture”
  • Line 53: “cleft”
  • Line 54: “But,” “less,” “devil,” “no not”
  • Line 55: “less,” “black man”
  • Line 56: “Bit,” “pretty red heart,” “two”
  • Line 57: “ten,” “buried”
  • Line 58: “At twenty,” “tried to”
  • Line 59: “back, back, back”
  • Line 60: “bones”
  • Line 61: “sack”
  • Line 62: “stuck”
  • Line 64: “made,” “model”
  • Line 65: “man in black,” “Meinkampf look”
  • Line 66: “love,” “rack,” “screw”
  • Line 67: “said,” “do,” “do”
  • Line 68: “daddy”
  • Line 69: “telephone’s off”
  • Line 71: “killed,” “killed”
  • Line 73: “drank,” “blood”
  • Line 75: “can,” “back”
  • Line 76: “stake,” “black”
  • Line 77: “villagers never,” “liked”
  • Line 78: “dancing,” “stamping”
  • Line 80: “Daddy, daddy,” “bastard”

• Epistrophe

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where epistrophe appears in the poem:

  • Line 32: “a Jew.”
  • Line 34: “a Jew.”
  • Line 35: “a Jew.”
  • Line 40: “a Jew.”
  • Line 77: “you.”
  • Line 78: “you.”
  • Line 79: “you.”

• Epizeuxis

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where epizeuxis appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “You do not do, you do not do”
  • Line 18: “wars, wars, wars.”
  • Line 27: “Ich, ich, ich, ich,”
  • Line 31: “An engine, an engine”
  • Line 39: “And my Taroc pack and my Taroc pack”
  • Line 45: “Panzer-man, panzer-man”
  • Lines 49-50: “brute / Brute”
  • Line 59: “back, back, back”
  • Line 67: “I do, I do.”
  • Line 80: “Daddy, daddy,”

• Diacope

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where diacope appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “do,” “do,” “do,” “do”
  • Line 22: “I never could”
  • Line 23: “your,” “your”
  • Line 24: “I never could”
  • Line 25: “stuck”
  • Line 26: “stuck”
  • Line 32: “Jew”
  • Line 34: “Jew”
  • Line 35: “Jew”
  • Line 49: “brute”
  • Line 50: “Brute,” “brute”
  • Line 54: “less”
  • Line 55: “ less”
  • Line 71: “killed,” “killed”
  • Line 73: “year”
  • Line 74: “ years”

• Onomatopoeia

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where onomatopoeia appears in the poem:

  • Line 5: “Achoo”
  • Line 32: “Chuffing”
  • Line 42: “gobbledygoo”

“Daddy” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Ghastly
• Frisco
• Nauset
• Ach, du
• Polack
• Barb wire
• Ich
• Chuffing
• Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen
• Tyrol
• Vienna
• Gipsy
• Taroc pack
• Luftwaffe
• Gobbledygoo
• Aryan
• Panzer-man
• Swastika
• Fascist
• Brute
• Cleft
• Meinkampf
• The rack and the screw

• (Location in poem: Line 9: “Ghastly”)

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Daddy”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Daddy” Speaker

“Daddy” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Daddy”

More “Daddy” Resources

• External Resources

  • The Poem Out Loud — "Daddy" as read by Sylvia Plath for BBC Radio.

  • Who was Otto Plath? — A Guardian article regarding the inspiration for "Daddy": Plath's own father, Otto Plath.

  • Biography and More Poems — A biographical account of Plath's life and additional poems, courtesy of the Poetry Foundation.

  • A Short Introduction to Plath's Poetry — Benjamin Voigt breaks down a few of Plath's most famous poems. 

  • An Interview With the Poet — A 1962 interview with Sylvia Plath, conducted by Peter Orr.

  • Confessionalism — A brief introduction to Confessionalism, a poetic moment that helps contextualize Plath's work. 

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Sylvia Plath

  • Ariel

  • Cut

  • Edge

  • Fever 103°

  • Kindness

  • Lady Lazarus

  • Mad Girl's Love Song

  • Metaphors

  • Mirror

  • Morning Song

  • Nick and the Candlestick

  • Poppies in July

  • Poppies in October

  • Sheep in Fog

  • Sow

  • The Applicant

  • The Arrival of the Bee Box

  • The Moon and the Yew Tree

  • The Munich Mannequins

  • The Night Dances

  • Tulips

  • Words

  • You're