Jose Contreras
ENGL 2305
05/01/2010
Compare and Contrast
Because Robert Hayden's "The Whipping," John Berryman's "Dream Song #384," and
Sylvia Plath's "Daddy," are based on subjects which contain elements of violence, hatred and
sorrow caused by guardians, it is safe to say that each of these poems share a likeness in that
these poems are strong emotional pieces of work. These three authors provide the necessary
combination of ethos and pathos in their poems to invoke the emotional side of a reader, which is
necessary to feel the speaker's pain. "Daddy" employs lyrical poetry means, a form with rhyming
schemes that express personal feelings, although it can be said to be narrative at the same time.
"The Whipping" and "Dream Song #384" are narrative poems, a story being told at the expense
of nondramatic elements seen in lyrical poems and sometimes using regular rhythm and meter.
In this case, "The Whipping" and "Dream Song" are written in free verse, refraining from meter
patterns and rhyme schemes. Although the poems may have this similarity, the constructions of
the poems are, of course, not the same. It should be pointed out that these poems do not touch on
any new material as observed by a modern poetry reader. However, for the time in which these
poems were written, they were radical for such an audience. In order to establish which poem is
much more inflicting emotionally, this paper will attempt to compare and contrast the elements
of poetry used by the poets. With this said, the poem that reads most disturbing is John
Berryman's "Dream Song #384". This can be supported by mostly by Berryman's subject content
as compared to the other two poems.
Starting with the most obvious element of any poem is the subject of the poems and its
treatment by the author. Sylvia Plath writes about her father and how his treatment of her is
comparable to the treatment of the Jews by the German Nazis in World War two, specifically the
Holocaust. Again, this is a clichéd subject but the comparison of her pain and persecution to the
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ENGL 2305
05/01/2010
victims of the Holocaust is a bit over-the-top at times and can be offensive, rendering it one of
Plath‘s more radical works. Hayden’s “The Whipping” centers on the beating of a boy by the
“old woman across the way”. The speaker (who is witnessing this beating) is reminiscent of the
whipping, igniting his “woundlike memories” of his past youth. At this point, this is the pinnacle
of the poem, which is both surprising and emotional, while the conclusion of the poem reveals an
answer. With Berryman’s “Dream Song #384”, the reader sees a angered speaker standing over
his father’s grave and spitting on his place, making the “awful pilgrimage“. Immediately the
reader can notice that “Dream Song #384” is no elegy. The reader arrives at the climax of the
poem, when the speaker bluntly states he would like to open the casket and murder his father
again. As stated above, these poems share the idea of parents who those have hurt their children,
both physically and mentally. Compared to the other two poems, “Dream Song #384” has the
notions of the utmost disturbing by subject.
Language and imagery also play a large role in the construction of the emotional
disturbance of each poem. Plath, along with the aforementioned Nazi imagery, uses childish tone
throughout the poem. This is evident while reading the introduction; the reader can see that Plath
has developed a rhyme scheme, along with a reference to a child’s nursery rhyme: “Old Woman
In The Shoe”. This reference also conveys a sort of being compressed or oppressed, the part
where living “like a foot for thirty years…barely daring to breath or Achoo.” The addition of
onomatopoeia in “Daddy” is more evidence of the continuation of child talk, such as “Achoo”
instead of sneeze and “chuffing” of the engine of a train and “gobbledygoo“ as a description.
Even the title itself is a play on child talk: Daddy being low diction compared to father. Plath’s
choice to use this type of tone could be a connection to her childhood to her adult years, wrecked
by mental illness that consequently seemed to be started with Plath‘s father (as paralleled by the
Jose Contreras
ENGL 2305
05/01/2010
speaker and father as well). Although just pure speculation, the back story of mental illness adds
much more to the disturbance of the poem. Also, the childish tone use could remind the modern
reader of horror movies that employ the chilling child laughter and voices to really frighten their
audience.
Through his use of sensory and allusive language, Hayden manages to take “The Whipping” to
an extent of pain. The visual word choices are how “The Whipping” greatly affects the reader:
crashes, strikes, breaks, vise, blows and the like add to the overall violent tone. The image of an
overweight woman chasing a young boy is chilling as well. What seems to be a major shift in
“The Whipping” is the change in time around line 13, the line being the flashback of the speaker.
Here, we see appealing language to sight, creating an abusive snapshot of the speaker’s mind, the
personal pronoun “I" assuring the reader that the memory belongs to the speaker. Here, Hayden
the speaker describes the ordeal as “the writhing struggle to wrench free, the blows, the fear…”
The flashback ends when the speaker mentions “the face that I no longer knew or loved”, a very
powerful statement for a child (the speaker’s past self, not the present speaker) to say and also
demonstrate the intensity of the trauma the speaker must have gone through. Hayden concludes
the poem with an “exhausted, purged” woman, who contrary to all “her goodness” earlier stated
in the poem, avenges for all her own beatings she has endured. This hypocrisy seems to allude to
the cycle of violence inflicted on child from adult or parent, which may more or less be just a
cycle of discipline seen commonly in most households. However, as “The Whipping” points out,
this is the traumatic part of being a child and this is what makes it disturbing to audiences,
especially those who can relate.
Berryman’s treatment to disorder is obvious from the start of “Dream Song”. The addition of the
two instances of the chuckling “ha” implies that the speaker has some enjoyment in violating his
Jose Contreras
ENGL 2305
05/01/2010
father’s grave. Also the rather dark expression “O ho alas alas...” which is followed by with a
hard line break, is an odd yet controlling add to the speaker's speech. No doubt at this point the
reader deduces that the speaker is a bit insane. The choice to use the phrase “I moan & rave” can
translate to someone suffering from a psychological disorder, specifically someone restrained in
a straight jacket, not able to be in control. In the last stanza, the speaker mentions a “final card”
and that he will “fell it on the start.” This could mean that the already emotional speaker craves
the ability to kill his father again somehow and thus exterminating his (the speaker) own
existence so that he would not have to go through the idea of life. It is interesting to note that the
speaker uses the 3rd person plural “we’ll” and mentions “Henry” when there is no evidence of no
one other than the speaker in the last stanza. This enigma adds even more to the pile of evidence
of the disorder inflicted within the speaker. I feel with his use of language, tone and a little of
line breaks and the pronoun change, Berryman creates one mad piece of work compared to the
other two.
The outer form of the three poems is not as strong a factor as the reasons mentioned
before but do contribute some. “Daddy” incorporates 5-line stanzas with meter and rhyme
scheme resembling that of a nursery rhyme from the start of the poem. Why a nursery rhyme?
One can only assume that Plath continues her theme of the abusive child, sort of creating her
own nursery based on her life. Again, this is quite a disturbing route that is taken but a great one
at that. The line breaks in “Daddy” do not seem to contribute in that the line lengths stay
consistent throughout the poem. Plath does not use any traditional meter or rhyme schemes
either. Rhythm is important in "Daddy" although it does not follow a traditional rhythm scheme.
Plath does use a good amount of end and internal rhyming which follows nicely with the nursery
rhythm. There is also quite a number of examples of iambic verse, the words in lines patterned
Jose Contreras
ENGL 2305
05/01/2010
by unstressed syllables followed by stressed syllables. Line 1 is evidence of this: “You do not do,
you do not do.” and line 31 "An engine, an engine." While this iambic rhythm is not consistent
throughout the poem regularly, it comes about every now and then, creating a rhythmic feeling.
“The Whipping” is not written in any type of rhyme scheme and the meter is various with each
line of each stanza. This definition is known as free verse. The quatrains (a four-lined stanza)
found in the poem contain lines whose lengths are consistent so the lines breaks do not make an
impact on the intensity of the poem. This choice of free verse is a little disappointing. With this
lack of a form of rhyme or meter, “The Whipping” does not add too much, which is justified
seeing it is a narrative much more than a lyrical. It is possible Hayden wanted to have the
freedom to write on such a subject without having to worry about the restrictions meter and
rhyme usually present in writing poetry.
As the same with “The Whipping”, Berryman does not use rhythm (although in each stanza,
there is a one pair of end rhyming) and the use of meter is nonexistent. Berryman uses six-lined
stanzas, also known as sestets. The break between each stanza separates the powerful stanzas so
that each one comes at the same pace and does not overwhelm the reader, which is an ingenious
idea. This free verse usage, I believe, was enacted for reasons with “The Whipping”.
Each poet has his and her own style of constructing powerful work. Differences and
similarities among these poems are what make each poem interesting, like an artist’s creation. In
this case, each poet created some grotesque and dark, so to say, art. However, everyone has an
opinion on something and with these three poems, John Berryman’s “Dream Song #384” seem to
champion above the others in being the most disturbing in comparison although it is considerably
a short poem. Considering literacy devices, language, inner structure and outer form used by
each poet and comparing them to each other, this decision is an educated one. It does help the
Jose Contreras
ENGL 2305
05/01/2010
reader to do a little research on the poets whose work they are reading to get a small idea of why
something is being done in a poem and how it is significant. Although none seemed to take a
new and exciting approach, they are each great in their own right. In my opinion, Plath’s delivery
came off too offensive and feministic; Hayden’s subject was unoriginal and clichéd. This drew
away from both poems’ true intentions and causing “Daddy” and “The Whipping” to seem flat
and dull. But nevertheless, they can and do stir the emotions inside the reader.