From a superficial reading, this poem depicts a woman riding her horse in the countryside, on the very break of dawn; but the poem may be analyzed under several lights.
Critics tend to discuss “Ariel” as an exploration of many subjects, including: poetic creativity, sexuality, Judaism, animism and mysticism, suicide and death, self-realization and selftransformation.
The title itself refers to three different things: the name of the horse the poetess used to ride, the androgynous sprite from Shakespeare’s play The Tempest, and the ancient name for Jerusalem (in the Old Testament).
Plath used to refer to Judaism several times in her poems (just like in “Daddy” ), and “Ariel” is no exception. In fact, Ariel was the ancient name for the city of
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She explains the title, which is also that of a poem in the book, like this in her journal:
[…] It relates more richly to my life and imagery than anything else I’ve dreamed up: has the background of The Tempest, the association of the sea, which is a central metaphor for my childhood, my poems and the artist’s subconscious, to the father image – relating to my own father, the buried male muse and god-creator risen to be my mate in Ted, to the sea-father Neptune [sic] – and the pearls and coral highlywrought to art: pearls sea-changed from the ubiquitous grit of sorrow and dull routine […]
Shakespeare's Ariel is an androgynous figure, and Plath's “Ariel” might also be an example about how a female poet, when possessed by the poetic creative fury, is not a female anymore: the genius transcends gender, and the role society gives it.
Sylvia Plath is also known for being a central figure in feminist movements. In fact, many of her poems contain references to the female figure, and to the role society imposes to