Poetry Analysis of the Works of Sylvia Term Paper

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,'….....