Some psychologists say that we all have a love-hate relationship with our parents. It seems I can relate to this claim very well. I feel like I am in a constant battle with my feelings for my parents. One minute I am happy with them and then in a flash I can become so upset or angry with them. This so called love-hate relationship seems to become evident in Lucille Clifton's poem, "forgiving my father" as well as Sylvia Plath's poem, "Daddy." In both poems, the author's change their tones, from affectionate and angry, toward their diseased fathers.
             Clifton's choice of harsh diction towards the narrator's father illustrates the hatred she has. She describes her father throughout the poem as an "old man," "old lecher," "old liar," "old pauper," "old prisoner," and "old dead man"(5, 9, 20). The repetition of the word "old" could be in concordance with one of the meanings in Webster's New World Dictionary, which is shabby. This definition could actually be a symbol of the narrator's repugnance towards the father. Only once does Clifton soften to "daddy"(20).
             At first, it seemed that Plath's tone is affectionate towards the father. First, by the nursery rhyme rhythm Plath uses. Using this type of sound leads one to believe that she is loving towards her father. The reader sees that she names her poem a very tender "Daddy." She also addresses him as "Daddy" before resorting to titling her father vicious names such as "Ach, du/O You" and "Panzer man"(6, 15, 45). Moreover, she calls him "Daddy" four more times before dubbing him with the conclusion of, "you bastard"(51, 75, 80).
             One can see there is reason to believe that a love-hate relationship is present in both of these poems. However, could it be possible that this change in tone, between affection and anger, is really a way of permanently putting their fathers' images to rest? Plath ends her poem by stating, "Daddy...I'm through"(80), and likewise, Clifton ends her poem by s...