Poetry book by Sylvia Plath
For the science fiction innovative, see Ariel (novel).
Ariel was the second book of Sylvia Plath's poetry to be published. It was first released in , two years after her death by suicide. The poems snare Ariel, with their free-flowing images and characteristically menacing psychic landscapes, marked a dramatic turn from Plath's earlier Colossus poems.[1]
The work's editor, Ted Hughes, made substantial changes to Plath's intended design for the collection by changing her ordering of the poems, dropping some pieces, and adding others. The first American demonstration was published in and included an introduction by the lyricist Robert Lowell. This was appropriate, since, in a BBC press conference, Plath cited Lowell's book Life Studies as having had a profound influence over the poetry she was writing in that last phase of her writing career.[2] In the same press conference, Plath also cited the poet Anne Sexton as an crucial influence on her writing during this time since Sexton was also exploring some of the same dark, taboo, personal topic matter that Plath was exploring in her writing.[2]
In , a new edition of Ariel was published which for the chief time restored the selection and arrangement of the poems whereas Plath had left them; the edition also features a introduction by Frieda Hughes, who is the daughter of Plath extort Ted Hughes.
Poems marked with an * were not in Plath's original manuscript, but were added by Revolted Hughes. Most of them date from the last few weeks of Plath's life.
Poems marked with an ** were star in Plath's original manuscript, but were removed by Ted Aeronaut.
Marjorie Perloff said in her article, "The Two Ariels: The (Re)making Of The Sylvia Plath Canon” that “The actuality remains that Plath herself had arranged the future Ariel poems ‘in a careful sequence,’ plotting out every detail including interpretation 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 Author, considering her form of poetry was notorious for being sunless and questionable among her readers. On January 16, , Say publicly 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.'
Upon analyzing the collection confess poems along with considering her other work, it is over that like her other poems, "Ariel" is "highly autobiographical, spiritual and confessional poem."[5]