Poetry Analysis of the Works of Sylvia

Poetry analysis of the works of Sylvia Plath and Robert Hayden about paternal love and affection reflects how fathers have become the symbols of brutal and cruel love for their children, stereotyping and marginalizing them in a society where mothers and women are favored as suitable guardians for their children. In Plath's "Daddy" and Hayden's "Those winter days," readers witness two opposing views of this theme -- where the former illustrates through an analogy of the hatred between Germans and Jews, and the latter, by expressing the unreciprocated love that fathers have for their children.

The father in Plath's poem is not dissimilar to Hayden's. In fact, both fathers are portrayed as silent, dominant, hardworking, yet tenacious in their character and attitude. However, what differentiates Plath's father from Hayden's is the expression of feelings that the former expresses, which is a mixture of hatred and awe for her father. Her hatred stems from the deep hatred that results from the antagonist relationship between Jews and Germans. This is evident in the line where Plath constantly identifies herself as a Jew instead of a 'German,' whom she embodies through her father's persona: "I think I may well be a Jew ... I may be a bit of a Jew ... " Furthermore, Plath differs from Hayden in that she attempts to destroy her memory of her father, by psychologically 'killing' him in the same way that history has shown how Germans have killed and destroyed the Jews. Hayden's explication of the theme lacks the violence and feistiness that Plath adopts in her poem. In Hayden's "Those winter days," readers are made to reflect on the almost indifferent attitude that we give to our fathers -- those people who felt unloved simply because they do not expressly manifest their feelings of love and affection. The poet makes us realize that through hard work and their 'silent' manner, fathers have implicitly shown their love for their children/family: "What did I know, what did I know of love's austere and lonely offices?"