Kayla Bates-The "Ariel" Poems by Sylvia Plath

“Ariel”, the title of a detailed collection of poems written by Sylvia Plath, tells of a few experiences and even uses illusion through imagery and definitions. The meaning of the title has three meanings, which are all referred to by Plath. The most obvious meaning would come from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, meaning being “airy spirit”. “Ariel was also, in fact, the author’s horse, of which she would ride occasionally. The Hebrew meaning of “ariel” is “lion of God”. In the poem “Ariel”, she mentions “God’s lioness”. The poems are fixed to rhyme at only certain stanzas. This sets different settings and feelings based on how often the lines rhyme and where they rhyme. She also uses imagery in terms of Biblical settings. She also refers to herself as the “cauldron of morning”. The line says, “Eye, the cauldron of morning,” but could really mean “I, the cauldron of mourning.” This could mean the author feels as though she is the mix or creator of mourning. A. Alvarez said, “The difficulty with this poem lies in separating one element from another. Yet that is also its theme."
The many poems in “Ariel” associate with feeling of hurt and depression, in my opinion. “Lady Lazarus” seems to talk about attempts to suicide. The title “Lady” refers to herself and “Lazarus” is an illusion to the Biblical figure, where Lazarus is resurrected by God. This poem is about her third attempt at suicide, where the doctors save her from death and for this, she sees them as her enemies. In real, after writing the “Ariel” collection, Plath succeeded at suicide after a few attempts at thirty. “Lesbos” describes a mistress as being evil. She talks about two women being completely different and she also mentions a husband. She talks about two women who are not lovers, but rivals (Therresa Kennedy). I believe she is talking about herself in this poem, “her shadow rival” as Paul Brodie said it. Aside from poems about herself, Plath did write some poems in “Ariel” about people she knew. In “The Rival”, I believe she is talking about her mother. She wrote, “Your dissatisfactions, on the other hand, arrive through the mailslot with loving regularity…no day is safe from news of you…” Sylvia’s mother did write a book about her letters home, and her high expectations of her daughter probably worsened her suicidal tendencies, as Annie Chen tells us. “Daddy” could be talking about Ted Hughes, Plath’s husband. She was married to him for seven years, and one year he wasn’t very faithful to her, as she found out he was cheating on her. Some even say that this could be a confessional poetry, just like “Lesbos”. Some even say this was actually about her dad, dying when she was only eight.
The “Ariel” poems were all written during the hard times of Sylvia Plath, around her suicidal attempts. Her poems are basically about her life situations and experiences. Sylvia’s death took place shortly after these poems were written. She used many techniques such as allusion, imagery, irony, and so forth in her many complicated and mysterious poems. I find these poems very interesting because of the rhyming differences in each poem and stanza of each poem. She bases her poems off of times and events and even places, but mostly off of emotions.