Ariel- Brainstorm

1. INTRODUCTION
a. 1962
b. Confessional like many of the others in the Ariel
collection
c. One of the few based upon a specific experience-others
are more general eg. Sucicide attempts
i. Discussion of a morning ride she took on her
horse, Ariel
d. Develops themes of power, control and the role of
women within society.
2. Chronological progression
o Demonstrates the transformation of the horse and the
rider
o The gradual gain of power that is revealed
o From a stage where she is unable to gain control: unable
to slip her hands around the horses neck to a stage
where she is at one with the drive
o Done through changes in velocity
o From stasis- umoving
o To flying, to speed
o Indicates the speakers ability to transcend, to obtain
power within a dire situation
3. Allusions
a. Ariel
i. lion of god in jewish
ii. Gods lioness
iii. A direct reference to the Hebrew/Jewish heritage
of the word
iv. Indicated in multiple other poems, indicates her
victimization at the hands of society/her father
v. Double meaning
vi. Could also signify the violence, the eventual
power that the speaker will gain
1. Purdah
4. Allusion to Godiva
a. Rode naked
b. Similar to Lady Lazarus, striptease
i. Images of feminism and feminine strength
ii. Shamelessness
iii. Signifies her theatrics and arrogance
c. Repetition of dead
i. Physical hands vs. the psychological
stringencies
ii. The body is something that tethers her to the
world
5. Feminity
a. The childs cry melts in the wall

i. Denouncing her responsibilities and feminine

duties
ii. Almost as if she is going against what society
expects/is escaping it
iii. She removes the barriers between her and the
ultimate power
b. Femaleness reasserts itself in the last stanza
i. She likens herself to the dew that flies
ii. The dew is consumed by the power of the sun
iii. Tragic, the impulse towards self-disclosure and
self-destruction to resurrect herself, yet is
ultimately consumed and therefore controlled by
an alternative source.
iv. Ironic- removes the ultimate power.
v. Link to Lady Lazarus- death, to her is a way to
seize power, yet she fails to do so.
6. The oneness of the horse and the rider signify that the spirit is
more
important than the body
a. at one with the drive
b. Individuation forcibly leaves behind the body and the
senses
c. Gains power with the horses will
d. She channels the power of the natural world and uses it
to transcend her body
e. Transcendence is a common theme within Plaths
poetry- again, Lady Lazarus and the desire to strip
herself of her body. The Arrival of the Bee Box and the
way she views her body merely as a box that houses her
mind.
7. Domination
a. It is the horse that gives her power at the end
b. The horse is a figure of male dominance
c. Indicating that it is men that gives women what they
require to gain control and dominance
d. Similar to the themes developed in Purdah.
8. Violence
a. The violence of the animal and the rider are unleashed
b. Hauls
i. Passive, allowing violent acts to be committed
against her. Signifies the lack of power.
c. Suicidal
i. Seizes the power and the violence that comes with
that power.
ii. Similar to the lioness from Lady Lazarus