An Angry Language: A Stylistic Study of the Images of Men in the Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy”

Abstract

Sylvia Plath was the female American confessional poet whose feverish writings before her early death brought about much critical acclaim. In many of her poems, she dexterously manifests the way men assert control over women’s identity. This paper focuses on the poem “Daddy” which resonates with her biography and private experiences. By exploring the images of men in “Daddy” through a linguistic and lexico-grammatical method known as system of transitivity which is a big important part of the Halliday’s systemic functional linguistics (SFL), we emphasise on the micro elements of words which reveals her attitude and stance toward men.

Keywords: Images of men; Plath; Systemic functional linguistic; “Daddy”; Male domination.