Slyvia Plath and William Jay Smith

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The poems “American Primitive” by William Jay Smith and “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath have woven into them an over arching theme of a non-idyllic, problematic father-child dynamic, however each poem`s respective tone showcase two different, separately striking effects this dysfunction can have on the child. While “American Primitive” is a contemporary ballad consisting of three stanzas, each constructed by four lines, Sylvia Plath`s “Daddy” is a longer, distraught, poetic tirade of a more confessional nature. “Daddy” uses metaphors of Jewish persecution and the Holocaust. “American Primitive” gives reader a feeling one would have seeing an orphaned child, smirking unnaturally, at the funeral. Both poems are rich in material, just waiting to be dug up, interpreted, and reinterpreted again. The poet`s different strategies on the usage of images and emotion, and other poetic devices really project an experience to the reader. My purpose is to, step by step, go through various poetic device, present the similarities and differences, convince you that both have similar roots, but also locate where poetic devices of the poems stem apart – particularly highlighting the effect on the child. Both poem`s overarching themes are of paternal, or family, dysfunction. Interestingly in “American Primitive”, the speaker initially purveys a sense of wonderment and admiration towards the father. I believe that the majority of children feel this way towards their fathers at a young age, and this poem is exploring this phenomenon. The line “Only my Daddy could look like that” conveys a childish sureness that their father is the best; many children who look up to their father feel this way. The next line in the poem provides a bit of uneasiness or alludes to something negative: “And I love my Daddy like he loves his Dollar.” The child loves his/her father with just as much love as the
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