Ariel

Ariel immediately involves itself in breaking down abstractions by using physical notions, only to rearrange them into abstract illustrations once more. Throughout the book, the use of the physical and the abstract is constant, often rendering the poems as illusive peeks into an over-all cohesive narrative. Plath often further complicates matters by mixing senses- a “cry” becomes “bald.” (pg 5) It is in this way that the poetry utilizes imagery and abstraction to weave a many textured harmony. Although it would seem that the word “harmony” is misleading, there is nothing harmonious about what the poems express, I would use it in the sense that there is a certain musical composition that the poetry takes part in.
Aside from images and abstractions, the author uses various types of references throughout. There are cultural and historical, such as Klu Klux Klan; there are mythological, as in Nike and Magi; there are literary, as in her references to William Blake and Richard Wilbur. This gives the poetry a space that is both contemporary and transitory- between a here and now and a then and there.
The poetry discusses very personal and yet common issues. Two of the most apparent are sexuality and gender norms and “purity.” These references can both be subtle and brazen. In the case of the poem “Lesbos” or “Barren Woman”- it is clear what the poet will be discussing. In other works such as “The Jailer”, there are phrases and sentiments that make the matter both skillfully crafted and significant.
I have been drugged and raped.
Seven hours knocked out of my right mind
Into a black sack
Where I relax, foetus or cat,
Lever of his wet dreams. (pg 23)
It is the intricacy with which Plath manages image and abstraction, that allows her to create a kaleidoscopic landscape which her readers are willfully forced to enter. There are no pretensions to neutrality or objectivity. These purely personal and pensive accounts of Sylvia Plath’s perspective, of her life, are artfully crafted and stunningly portrayed.