In "Daddy," Plath (1, 1) is apparently describing the emotions she has held toward her father since his death when she was only 10 years old. Plath (1, 1) says that "daddy, I've had to kill you./ You died before I had time." Throughout the poem, Plath makes it clear that she equates her father with the Nazis and blames him for the failure of her subsequent relationships with men, including "the vampire who said he was you (Plath, 1, 2)."
The structure of the poem is narrative, but does not tell a consistent story so much as it conveys a set of emotions. These emotions reflect Plath's attitudes toward the men in her life whom she feels have been abusive to her and who have made her feel "a bit of a Jew (Plath, 1, 2)." Her memories of her father lead her to describe her own attempts at suicide and her failed marriage.
The style of this poem by Plath (1, 1) employs five line stanzas that are interspersed with one or two line statements. It is highly emotional and reflects the attitude that is common to many women of Plath's age with regard to their subjugation to men and the dominant influence that men have over their lives from childhood through adulthood. The most impressive element of the poem is Plath's insistence that her father was a Fascist and that her love for him led her to select an equally abusive mate.
The subject of "Lady Lazarus" by Plath (2, 1) is suicide, with the poet depicting herself as attempting death at least one year in every 10 and failing because "dying is an art, like everything else." Plath describes her efforts to end her life and her psychological torment in at least three attempts in 30 years.
The poem describes a series of events and the emotions accompanying them. The events are Plath's suicide attempts which are not presented in chronological order and which are depicted as her own effort to make a connection with Death which she d
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