Discuss Plath's use of the techniques of confessional poetry in "Daddy."

The confessional poetic devices abound in this poem.  The
most evident one is the heavily personalized nature of the poem. This is accomplished
through the first person narration throughout.  It is also evident in the personal
memories that the speaker experiences and shares with the reader.  The "black shoe"
which almost brings to mind the idea of living in a shoe box where definitions and
parameters define one's state of being in the world without any freedom of expression is
one such memory.  Another one would be the inability to commuicate with the father,
brought out in a visceral and powerful manner:

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I never could talk to you.

The tongue stuck in my jaw.

This is an example
of the confessional nature because it takes the experience and brings it forth with the
kind of physical imagery of "the moment" where conversation ceased.  The confessional
nature of the tongue lodged in the jaw does not escape the mind of the reader.  One
feels the discomfort of speech, the experience of pain in that instant.  The closing of
needing to "kill" daddy is something also confessional, in nature.  I would think that
the mere title is also confessional.  The term "Daddy" indicates such a strong emotional
connection, one where a child looks to the father in the most dependent of ways.  The
title of the poem is not "father," which is more clinical of a term.  "Daddy" reflects
that dependence of a child on its paternal figure, something that the speaker of the
poem opens and closes with in terms of the patricide that needs to result.  These
examples of reflective of the naked sense of emotion that result in confessional poetry,
the type of sensations that seek to bring about some form of catharsis and emotional
revelation through poetic description.  Certainly, the speaker, presumably Plath, seeks
this end through the poem.

I would also say that the
confessional poetry aspect is present in the overall purpose of the poem.  At its very
root, there is an unresolved relationship that exists between father and daughter.  The
poem is not clear as to what this relationship is, and in this ambiguity, is where the
speaker/ Plath exists.  In seeking to examine this relationship, Plath seeks to examine
herself.  This brings out another element of confessional poetry, in being able to use
the poem to explore the more unsightly aspects of one's sense of being.  This
exploration and revelation, one that is done brazenly and openly, is where confessional
poetry lies and is where Plath's "Daddy" also resides.