Ariel

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It’s a problematic collection on a number of levels; racial slurs are used fast and loose and on more than one occasion, Plath makes an audacious claim of solidarity with the Jews of the Holocaust. Whilst her imagery and word choice are stunningly original, I could not help but find some strains and devices a little repetitive, namely triadic repetitions e.g. ' wars, wars, wars'. And I force myself not to think of her tragic suicide and her mental condition when she wrote these verses. I choose to concentrate on the writer, on the genius, on the creativity which enables suffering to become universal works of art that offer comfort and redemption, on the flowing current of feeling rather than on the scabrous speculations hiding behind Sylvia’s supposed products of madness. Truth is I don’t want to know. Some things are best left unsought, some things need to be sensed rather than known, so I decide to surrender to Sylvia’s acidic voice and let the walls of this cage dissolve away and for the briefest of moments, I taste the undistinguishable flavor of exhilarating freedom. If the poems are despairing, vengeful, and destructive, they are at the same time tender, open, and also unusually clever, sardonic, hard minded:

Ariel by Sylvia Plath | Goodreads

When I was little and my dad used to dress up in his SS uniform I used to think he looked so smart and handsome. Of course, later, the penny dropped. Absolutely and whole heartedly… Not just to anyone interested in poetry, but to anyone interested in these topics as well. They are charging directly at the sun, a new day is approaching. The speaker can see a new, intense, burning light at the end of her tunnel, and she is heading straight for it. This is where she will find her new life.

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. The speaker is in a place of “darkness” in which nothing is happening. She is in “stasis,” frozen in place. The reader is also waiting at the beginning of the poem for something to happen. This does not last long as the second and third lines of the poem jump into action. A Birthday Present shows the fragility of mental health, with the risk of losing it as invisible veils and the only wish being hale for one day as a birthday present remaining. Past the speaker flies the dew from the forest around them, and they “drive” onward. Their pace is not slowing, and Ariel, and now the speaker, are determined to get exactly where they need to be. They,

Ariel by Sylvia Plath | Goodreads Ariel by Sylvia Plath | Goodreads

My experience with the entire collection was simultaneously very familiar and yet a little different. I got to revisit some of my old favorites, which still haven’t lost their magic over me. I’d love to explain why I love each and every one of them, and what they mean to me, however, I’m choosing to only mention some of them briefly. Most poetry is best experienced “blind” yourself, and if you are interested in reading some analyses, there are many out there that do a way better job than I ever could. If you want me to, I’d much rather direct any of you who are interested there, than do a butch-job Poetry is slow reading and must be read aloud, otherwise, I believe, one gets nothing from it. It must also be read over several days or weeks; I usually aim for no more than 3 poems a day when reading poetry. One in the morning, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. Reading aloud also shrinks the universe, and slows time. These poems resisted even 3 a day on some occasions, purely because of their nature and theme. It is controlled, serious verse but her later work shows new strains and pressures at work and becomes a poetry of anguished confession.”

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. I prefer to read this as testament to Plath’s wonderfully morbid curiosity. Then there is the moon imagery and the aura of inevitability. “ I simply cannot see where there is to get to.” The line, uttered with deadpan acumen, foreshadows the decree of finality in “Edge,” her final poem. “ Her bare/Feet seem to be saying:/We have come so far, it is over.” The bare feet that prophesy this end are the feet of the girl who walks through the moonlit landscape like God. It’s heavy stuff Sylvia Plath takes on in this bundle and despite its small size I could not finish it easily. Marjorie Perloff said in her article, "The Two Ariels: The (Re)making Of The Sylvia Plath Canon” that “The fact remains that Plath herself had arranged the future Ariel poems ‘in a careful sequence,’ plotting out every detail including the first and last words of the volume." [3] Another critic remarked that “her poetry would have been valuable no matter what she had written about.” [3] A very accurate description of Plath, considering her form of poetry was notorious for being dark and questionable among her readers. On January 16, 2004, The Independent newspaper in London published an article that ranked Ariel as the 3rd best book of modern poetry among 'The 10 Best Modern Poetry Books.'

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

PDF / EPUB File Name: Ariel_Restored_Edition_-_Sylvia_Plath.pdf, Ariel_Restored_Edition_-_Sylvia_Plath.epub Eye, the cauldron of morning.The beginning of Elm is another of my favourite passages, which expresses better than anything else I can think of just how painful love can be. I remember once showing it to a friend who's had a rather difficult life (we'd been having some discussion about poetry). She seemed almost physically affected; I remember she turned pale, and couldn't finish reading it. I wished I'd had more sense: I know the bottom, she says. I know it with my great tap root: Upon analyzing the collection of poems along with considering her other work, it is concluded that like her other poems, "Ariel" is "highly autobiographical, psychological and confessional poem." [5] Additional poems in her manuscript [ edit ] Some of her images take on forceful private meanings. Poppies are associated with violence and with the malignant blood cells of hemophilia, the Medusa head with the reality of death, bees with the life of the soul after death.

Poetry in Extremis — an analysis of Ariel

The poems in Ariel are brilliant and powerful, but often sad, since they were written at a devastating time in Plath's life. Plath had suffered from depression for years, but she was at her lowest point after her husband became involved with another woman, and her marriage dissolved. Plath had some near-death experiences in her life--an accidental near-drowning at age 10 and a suicide attempt at age 20. Close to her 30th birthday, she wrote "Lady Lazarus" which begins: Depression had been a constant companion, leading to a life of struggle that was reflected in her work. I got a present. But I was thinking that if I unwrapped it, it would bite my face off. So I didn't. Hah. Either disturbed by some haunting, otherworldly presence or simply because of the purring birdsong I awake on the early hours of this winter morning and I grab Sylvia Plath’s collection of poems Ariel, which is calling to me from my bedside table. Still drowsy with soft shades of silky sheets printed on my cheeks my glassy eyes try to focus on stray words that chop like sharpened axes. Streams of unleashed running waters wash over me but fail to cleanse my soul. I am unsettled. Disturbing images flood the still pond of my mind, I feel faint visualizing drops of blood soaking weaved carpets of fluffy snowflakes drawing impossibly flowery forms on shimmering innocence, red tulips opening their moist petals aroused by treacherous dew at dawn, warmth bitterly frozen in morbid colors.

Ariel by Sylvia Plath, First Edition - AbeBooks Ariel by Sylvia Plath, First Edition - AbeBooks

Here are some of the passages from Ariel that I think of most often. I have always assumed that the title poem is about having sex with Ted Hughes, though I found out recently that it's also about her horse. It ends like this: ...White Sylvia Plath was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1932. When Plath was only eight years old, her father, who had been strict and authoritarian in his parenting style, died. His death would become the driving force behind a number of her most famous poems, most notably “ Daddy.” Plath graduated summa cum laude from Smith College in 1955. This is the same year in which “Two Lovers and a Beachcomber by the Real Sea” was published. She had battled with depression throughout her schooling, attempting suicide in 1953.Some poems were difficult to open, difficult to find their meaning, but that just means repeated readings might open them.