Weekly Poetry Discussion

[newtothis]

So, this has really dropped off as of late. I really enjoyed it when it was here, so for this week, I thought I would choose a poem. I am choosing "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath. While I know this is a longer poem, it is rather controversial. I am curious as to your opinions as to her use of World War II holocaust imagery. Do you think it is appropriate? Or do you believe it should be taboo as far as confessional poetry goes? Is Plath being pretentious in comparing her life to a Jew's in WWII?

I will post a link, rather than the poem. Hopefully you guys will respond!

"Daddy"- Sylvia Plath

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15291

[The Personist]

One of the things that strikes me about this, Nazi imagery aside, is that she uses such a sing-song rhyme and rhythm throughout, which is absolutely at odds with the morbid images used herein. I think that alone deserves mention for being quite clever. The immense tension between those two aspects of the poem makes it mirror what I see as Plath's own struggles with her memory of her dead father and the problems his dead early in her life caused her.

As for the Nazi imagery, I think it's outright. I don't think anyone can possibly compare themselves to THAT pain and THAT suffering, because the Holocaust is without precedent and beyond compare. Thus, I think it's pretentious of her, but I also think that over-the-top image may have served its purpose. She made a veritable mockery of the painful feelings, and, as someone who has done similarly (Though sans holocaust imagery), I know that it not only helps, but sometimes is the best way to make something hurt less. I'd write more, but I don't want to monopolize.