The last poem suggests that words are dubious allies in the struggle to maintain a sense of reality.

Ariel by Sylvia Plath | Goodreads

At one extreme she celebrates the ritual murder of her subconscious father-image in jangling staccato phrases parodying the clichés of agony column verse, and culminating in a Walpurgisnacht frenzy. There is often a temptation to detect fanciful references that prefigure Plath’s suicide by asphyxiation (God knows, there’s enough mention of ‘carbon monoxide’), but to do so unfairly distils Ariel into autobiographical poetry. It is hardly breaking news that she was a good poet but such terrific words, I don't even want to imagine the insides of her terrible terrible mind.His death would become the driving force behind a number of her most famous poems, most notably “ Daddy. Their pace is not slowing, and Ariel, and now the speaker, are determined to get exactly where they need to be. All of these are amazing poems by themselves, but reading the collection as a whole did in a way help me understand a bit more about Sylvia Plath as a person, which helps you understand her work better.

Ariel by Sylvia Plath — a review and analysis - Literary Ariel by Sylvia Plath — a review and analysis - Literary

Ariel’s story is significant in terms of his imprisonment by Prospero and subsequent release, and his supernatural abilities and insights. I guess Scott of the Antarctic is the canonical example - though later on, I discovered to my surprise that Norwegians just think he was an idiot who didn't prepare carefully, and that Amundsen was the real hero. I seem to be one of the rare exceptions; the script was nothing special, but I thought Paltrow had done a fine job of capturing her personality on screen.Sylvia Plath went on an expedition to a sort of emotional Antarctica, a place most people have heard of but never visited, where you experience love so intensely that it ends up killing you. The next line, only made up of the word “White,” contrasts with the previous reference to “N*****r-eye” berries in the fourth tercet. Plath’s poems are a tribute to the resourcefulness of the creative imagination and its capacity to render meaningful the hazardous course of an individual life. I don't see myself wanting to interpret each poem here (though the themes above might be a little), but the moods seem so clear even in the poems I can't open yet.

Ariel (Faber Heritage Poetry Editions) by Sylvia Plath Ariel (Faber Heritage Poetry Editions) by Sylvia Plath

In the first tercet of the poem, the reader is given a very brief description of the situation in which the speaker has found herself. Throughout this book there was slur after slur, offensive or maybe just inane comparisons, and a clear prejudice towards 'unfamiliar' aspects. Ariel, Sylvia Plath, Swedish translation (Ellerströms Förlag) 2012; from the library of Frieda Hughes. It is no mean feat to have recorded an enduring attitude to death that embraces a sense of life in the face of suffering and weakness.I remember once showing it to a friend who's had a rather difficult life (we'd been having some discussion about poetry). She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for two of her published collections The Colossus and Other Poems and Ariel, as well as The Bell Jar, a semi-autobiographical novel published shortly before her death. But you see even in her darkest poem (for me) Lady Lazarus she manages to end the poem with an inspiring, uplifting way.