preview

How Does Sylvia Plath Contribute To The Poem's Effect?

Decent Essays

What is the defining feature of the poem, and how does it contribute to the poem’s effect?
The defining feature of the poem Daddy by Sylvia Plath is the rhyme scheme. Forty-one out of the eighty lines in the poem rhyme with 'you' and none of the other thirty-nine lines rhyme with each other. In Daddy, 'you' refers to the speaker's father, and the rhyme scheme helps convey the speaker's attitude towards her father and his death. The constant referring back to 'you' emphasizes her frustration with her inability to escape her father. No matter how often she tries to convince herself that she is 'through' (68) with him, he always comes back-sometimes in the form of another man whose "a model of [him]" (64). The repeated 'you' rhyme also demonstrates

Get Access