Sylvia Plath's "Daddy" and "The Arrival of the Bee Box"
Sylvia Plath's poems "Daddy" and the "Arrival of the Bee Box" both show the speaker of the poem desperately struggling with their feelings of vulnerability and powerlessness. Throughout the poems, the readers see the speaker attempting to assert their power, though never actually succeeding. In the first stanza of 'Daddy", Plath pens "You do not do, you do not do, any more black shoe" and this appears to inform the reader that no longer will she put up with the 'black shoe'. Though, as the poem progresses, we see emotions see- sawing and no longer do we feel that the speaker of the poem has the power, no matter how hard they try to gain it. In the line "I have always been scared of you", we are shown that the speaker admits that their father had a clear hold on them, and that he actually had the ability to control their emotions.
Sylvia Plath
23 Fitzroy Road, London : The house where Sylvia P...
English: Grave of Sylvia Plath The grave of poet S...We see further evidence that the speaker's feelings of control diminishing when they state: "At twenty, I tried to die, and get back, back, back to you". In 'Arrival of The Bee Box', we initially see Plath asserting her power over the bees in the box, and the speaker states that they "ordered this, this clean wood box", as if to say "I decided to buy the bees, and therefore I have control over them". Leading more into the poem, Plath feels effaced and insignificant, once again "I wonder how hungry they are, I wonder if they would forget me". The speaker of both poems is taken over by ever changing moods; from powerful and in control, to meek and feeble.
Comparing 'Daddy' with 'The Arrival of...