Abstract
This paper discusses the character traits embodied by Jerusha Abbott, the protagonist in Jean Webster's 1912 novel "Daddy-Long-Legs". The paper argues that while Jerusha was a disobedient child, she becomes a strong and happy young woman over the course of her college education and her correspondence with her benefactor Mr. Smith, whom she calls Daddy-Long-Legs.

From the Paper
"Jean Webster's 1912 novel, "Daddy-Long-Legs", relates the story of Jerusha Abbott's college education and childhood through a first-person narrative written in letters. Each letter is written to Jerusha's financial benefactor, whom she has dubbed "Daddy-Long-Legs," because the only piece of concrete information she has about the man who calls himself Mr. Smith is that he is tall. He unexpectedly selected Jerusha from her orphanage, the John Grier Home, to attend college after she had received good marks in her high school education; the only stipulation in this scholarship is that Jerusha must write monthly letters to Mr. Smith. This confluence of..."

Tags:webster, daddy, long, legs, novel

Abstract
A brief argumentative essay asserting that, in her poem "Daddy", Sylvia Plath critiques aspects of and institutions associated with a patriarchal society via condemnation of her speaker's domineering father.

From the Paper
"Superficially, Sylvia Plath's poem "Daddy" is an embittered condemnation of a domineering father by his daughter; at its essential core, the poem is a scathing assertion that women are defined and victimized, physically and psychologically, by an enduringly patriarchal society and its pro-masculine institutions such as marriage. Plath, throughout "Daddy", deems her female speaker, and by extension all of womanhood, a literally and figuratively stifled pawn of the specter of both her late..."

Tags:Sylvia Plath, Daddy, patriarchal, marriage

Abstract
This paper is an examination of the complex relationships that can occur between fathers and daughters as evidenced in Sylvia Plath's infamous poem "Daddy." The paper analyzes Plath's treatment of her own father in the poem, particularly the way in which the poem oscillates between the ideal and the terrible, evoking images of the divine and also the terrible.

From the Paper
"Despite proclamations to the contrary, our relationships with our fathers can be incredibly complex. The Western images of the ideal father, perhaps epitomized in paintings by Norman Rockwell, are simplistic and fail to capture the depth of the interaction that can exist between fathers and their children. In particular, the relationship between a father and a daughter can be especially complex - as Freudian psychologists would probably be the first to point out. Whether or not they have the issue correct, the fact remains that fathers and daughters interact in ways that oscillate between adoration and hatred. The desire to be loved and accepted is often mediated by the absence of the father. This complex relationship is more than apparent when we confront one of the most famous (or infamous, depending on one's perspective) poems by Sylvia Plath: "Daddy." "

Tags:sylvia, plath, daddy

Abstract
This paper examines Sylvia Plath's poem "Daddy," a poetic tirade directed at a father who is the source of considerable pain. It looks at how the narrator in "Daddy" is actually a 30-year-old woman and presumably the voice of Sylvia Plath and how this poem, like much of Plath's poetry, is autobiographical. It shows how in "Daddy" she attempts to connect the intensely personal suffering of a woman (Plath) who never recovered from the death of her father to a more universal suffering, whether it's between father and daughter, husband and wife or tyrant and captive.

From the Paper
"In Plath's Incarnation: Woman And The Creative Process, Bundtzen describes Plath's metaphor of men as fascist as a larger feminine issue. "Plath is not concerned primarily with personal afflictions, except as they represent a wider feminine condition. As she puts it in "Daddy," "Every woman adores a fascist (30)." Or, every woman adores God-like men who represent power.
To post-feminist women, such a statement might seems incredibly dated or exagerrated. "Daddy" was published in 1961, and this type of relationship was very real to Plath. In fact, she focused extensively on the oppressive relationships in her life in her autobiographical novel The Bell Jar."

Tags:father, daughter, suffering, suicide

Abstract
This paper examines Sylvia Plath's most famous poem, 'Daddy', in order to assess whether the narrator's position has been influenced by the 'patriarchal society' in which she lived, or if her 'own ambitions' led to the heavily depressed attitude that produced a poem in which she compares her own life to the suffering that occurred during the Holocaust. It also looks at how far Plath's personal life affected the piece, and the extent to which her autobiography plays a part in explaining the feelings and beliefs held by the narrator of the poem.

From the Paper
"Upon further analysis of this poem, however, it becomes quite apparent that despite Plath's attempts to maintain a certain level of distance from the piece through incorrect facts such as claiming that the narrator 'was ten when they buried [her father]' (l. 57) whereas in fact Plath was around eight years old when Otto Plath died, there are various other indications that 'Daddy' is a highly autobiographical piece of writing, including two images in particular that relate quite specifically to her German-Polish father and, towards the end of the poem, several that seem to implicate Ted Hughes, though perhaps less pointedly."

Tags:ariel, autobiography, holocaust, hughes, ted

Abstract
Few poems have ever been written that embody the raw emotion evoked by Sylvia Plath's "Daddy". This paper examines how, written only four months before her suicide, the poem is a final purge of emotions. It discusses how it is a delusional account of one woman's spiral into depression and lunacy and how it has remained a topic of controversy since it was first published.

From the Paper
"The poem opens up with Plath's first description of her father as a black shoe, "in which the daughter has 'lived like a foot', suggesting her submissiveness and entrapment." (Rosenblatt 4). She is afraid to breathe or "achoo." The poem begins with childish language: achoo, rather than sneeze, repetition of phrases, because Plath has traveled back to a child-like state of mind. Even by titling the poem "Daddy," rather than Father, "Plath lets us know that she recognizes the outburst as childish, truer to the child's fantasy of domination and abandonment than the adult's reconstruction of the facts." (Breslin 5). "

Tags:suicide, emotions, father

Abstract
Sylvia Plath's problems provided literary release for her enduring poetry. This paper concisely summarizes Plath's life and then analyzes the biographical catalysts of "Mirror" and "Daddy." By citing tones, metaphors, and popular interpretations, the paper places the poems in the context of Plath's life.
Outline
Biography
Criticism

From the Paper
"Plath began to explicitly explore her individuality after the birth of her daughter, causing the candid, yet austere "Mirror." In the poem, Plath is metaphorically both a mirror and the woman reflected in the mirror in the poem, creating herself as the subject. She is initially a "silver and exact" mirror, and "most of the time [she] meditate[s] on the opposite wall" (Hughes 173). With simple phrasing and precise diction, Plath establishes her attitude of blunt intimacy towards her newly-realized self; she uses the tone to show that she is exploring herself honestly. Then, a "woman bends over" the mirror, which is "[n]ow... a lake," and begins "[s]earching [the lake's] reaches for what she really is" (Hughes 174). "

Tags:hughes, ted, liberation

Abstract
This paper discusses the family portrayed in Maggard's song and the dynamics at work in a four-person household headed by a blind musician and his hearing-impaired wife. It discusses how the family travels the country, performing wherever they can find an audience. Despite the handicaps of both parents and the family's struggle to make a living, their relationships are strong and positive, buoyed by faith and mutual trust. It examines how, although Haggard's lyrics are fictional, they are based on his wife's experiences, and they ring true. Daddy Frank's family could have been extremely dysfunctional, yet they managed to turn their problems into strengths, demonstrating one of the most important ways in which families can be positive, healthy factors in the lives of their members.

From the Paper
"The title character in Haggard's "Daddy Frank," is a guitar player who was born blind. His wife lost her hearing to a fever. The narrator, their son, "don't remember how they got acquainted" (Haggard, 1971), but sees how "their one and only weakness made them strong" (Haggard, 1971). He and his sister, who accompanies the group on tambourine, sing with Daddy Frank; sometimes their father also plays "French harp" (harmonica). The narrator explains, "That little band was all a part of living/And our only means of living at the time" (Haggard, 1971). Daddy Frank's little combo has learned to make beautiful music together, and that music supports them."

Tags:music

Abstract
An essay on a modern poem entitled "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath.

Abstract
This paper looks at two examples of poems whose treatment of their subject are both varied and unusual - "Valentine" by Carol Ann Duffy and "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath. It looks at how these two poems use a variety of poetic techniques to express their feelings effectively and how although both poems are unique, they are at the same time themed similarly on "love-hate" relationships.

From the Paper
"An unusual and interesting technique used by Plath was her constant referral to different colors - "black, white, gray, green, blue, blue, black, black, red..." I believe she may have employed color as a metaphor to reflect all the conflicting emotions inside her, each color representing a different emotion. For example, "black" has connotations of darkness and evil and so may have been used as a symbol for hate, while red may have been used to represent the love she feels for her father at the same time. It is interesting to notice how the word "black" is repeated a number of times while the color "red" is only mentioned once. This may have been used to symbolize the fact that most of her feelings towards her father are those of anger and hate. It may also have been used to reflect on her rebellion to Nazi Germany - very little red (which was the predominant background of the Nazi swastika) is mentioned in the poem while lots of other colours are mentioned that are not in the swastika."

Tags:romance, sounds, structure