appier without her. It is certain that this feeling she expresses is also felt and carried by other German wives and children. The basic purpose of the poem is to dictate her feelings toward all of these men, mainly her father. This release of all that has been carried inside her is a means of closure for the treatment she has received. As a larger picture, Sylvia has also documented, from the inside, what it was like for the German dependant in a time of terrible hatred toward people who were seen as weak and insignificant....
