`Daddy` by Sylvia Plath and `Rip Van Winkle` by Washington Irving

Daddy

You died before I had time ' Sylvia Plath pronounces in the initial part of her poem , expressing seeming regret over her desire but inability to 'kill ' her father , who was in fact , already dead . Of course , Plath wasn 't speaking of killing ' her father in a literal manner , but instead , was expressing putting an end to her romanticized notions of a father whom she barely knew and of his death , which the suicidal poet longed for as well . A tendency which is affirmed when she discloses , I was ten when they

buried you / At twenty I tried to die and get back , back , back to you (Plath . The poet wanted to 'kill ' the sentimental fixation she had regarding her father 's death , wanted to bury conceptions of her father she harbored - however true or false - so as to put an end to the drama involved with having a father who remains merely a romanticized take on what was once a living reality . The poet reconciles with her father 's death , and the death of the aforementioned glamorization of his passing by ultimately proclaiming by the end of the poem , .Daddy , daddy , you bastard , I 'm through (Plath

Rip Van Winkle

The legendary story of a man who slept for twenty years and returned to his town worn , gray , and two decades older is familiar to most of us but despite its unique and ingenious storyline , the manner by which the author , Washington Irving relates the tale , outlines gender stereotypes and unfortunately , evokes subtle mysoginistic tones as well . This is evident in the way Irving contrasts the protagonist 's attributes to that of his wife . The author writes of Rip Van Winkle 's idleness , meekness and less than hardworking tendencies as something which should be given high regard , if not deemed noble . Of Dame Van Winkle , Irving paints a less than flattering portait of a woman who , to put it crudely , embodies the stereotypical nag of a housewife . Where the protagonist is described as simple ' kind ' and good-natured ' his wife is called a termagant ' shrew ' and at most , tolerable ' The premise that good-natured husbands dread nagging housewives , and that Rip Van Winkle was lucky to have been away from his wife establishes the said stereotype , further affirmed at the end of the tale when the author ultimately concludes , It is a common wish of all hen-pecked husbands in the neighborhood , when life hangs heavy on their hands , that they have a quiet draught out of Rip Van Winkle 's flagon (Irving References

Plath , Sylvia . Daddy ' Retrieved 12 March 2008 from HYPERLINK "http /www .internal .org /view_poem .phtml ?poemID 356 http /www .internal .org /view_poem .phtml ?poemID 356

Irving , Washington . Rip Van Winkle ' Retrieved 12 March 2008 from HYPERLINK "http /www .islandmm .com /vbs /ripv http /www .islandmm .com /vbs /ripv

Sylvia Plath 's Daddy ' and Washington Irving 's Rip Van Winkle...