First Edition, 211 pages
English language
Published Nov. 9, 2004 by HarperCollins.
Sylvia Plath’s famous collection, as she intended it.
When Sylvia Plath died, she not only left behind a prolific life but also her unpublished literary masterpiece, Ariel. When her husband, Ted Hughes, first brought this collection to the public, it garnered worldwide acclaim, but it wasn’t the draft Sylvia had wanted her readers to see. This facsimile edition restores, for the first time, Plath’s original manuscript—including handwritten notes—and her own selection and arrangement of poems. This edition also includes in facsimile the complete working drafts of her poem “Ariel,” which provide a rare glimpse into the creative process of a beloved writer. This publication introduces a truer version of Plath’s works, and will alter her legacy forever.
I loved how Sylvia plath talks about day to day experiences. How she transports you to that specific moment.
How she portraits pain and suffering is insane and I've never read something so close to those feelings... But also feelings in general.
I also love how well she portraits the feminine experience. So elegant but a slap in the face
This book is also very triggering. Please consider that before reading it
Lady Lazarus slaps, perhaps I too should Lazarus my way into a devourer of men after my reawakening from the ashes of my previous life.
Fully realized.
There were a few poems in this collection that I had trouble understanding, but many were poignant and extremely powerful. Plath was a brilliant poet.
Not my bag... I felt I should have read it already and then did and couldn't keep any of the poems in my head even thru the duration of the poem. Weird experience.
It feels like Sylvia Plath’s life overshadowed her literary value; her autobiographical novel The Bell Jar was like a confessional and people tend to read it for all the juicy bits. Ariel is a collection of poems published posthumously, just a few years after her suicide. It is true that we have Plath to think for advancing the confessional poetry form and exploring topics previously taboo like suicide, mental illness and domestic abuse.
I would like to thank Meg Wolitzer’s book Belzhar for pushing me into reading more of Sylvia Plath. The book explores a struggling student that was sent to a private school that put her in a special English class. This class spent the semester journaling and reading Plath, most importantly The Bell Jar but also Ariel. That book made me want to re-read The Bell Jar which I loved but instead decided it was time to give …
It feels like Sylvia Plath’s life overshadowed her literary value; her autobiographical novel The Bell Jar was like a confessional and people tend to read it for all the juicy bits. Ariel is a collection of poems published posthumously, just a few years after her suicide. It is true that we have Plath to think for advancing the confessional poetry form and exploring topics previously taboo like suicide, mental illness and domestic abuse.
I would like to thank Meg Wolitzer’s book Belzhar for pushing me into reading more of Sylvia Plath. The book explores a struggling student that was sent to a private school that put her in a special English class. This class spent the semester journaling and reading Plath, most importantly The Bell Jar but also Ariel. That book made me want to re-read The Bell Jar which I loved but instead decided it was time to give her poetry a go.
However I am very aware that I don’t know how to review poetry let alone a whole collection, so this is more about my experience with this book. I feel like I am becoming a better reader but if you ask me to read out loud I am going to struggle. So I decided this is an issue I needed to work on and I read Ariel to my wife (she read some of it to me as well). This may seem like a romantic and intimate thing to do with your partner but Plath has a way of killing any sexy moods.
I loved the experience but I am struck with a sense that Sylvia Plath might have been a poor choice to begin with. She has a very strong sense of imagery and plays a lot with metaphors; some of which I picked up on but there was some stuff that went over my head. Poetry is meant to be read out aloud and I thought this would help with my understanding as well as develop my skills. However I found it extremely difficult to work out punctuation in these poems. Some sentences span over a few stanzas but my natural impulse was to pause after ever line.
Having said that, this was a wonderful experience and while the poems are often dark and depressing I am glad I shared this moment with my wife. Ariel kind of reminds me of those people on the internet that overshare about their lives and you can’t help but be glued to what they write even if it annoys you. Sometimes I think, that is too much information but Sylvia Plath seems to get to the heart of that raw emotion.
Sylvia Plath was an incredibly intelligent and complex woman; I can’t help being fascinated by her. I want to learn more about her life, and understand the emotion behind her writing. Take for example her poem “Daddy”; there is this anger toward her father as well as some holocaust imagery that I just want to understand. I am going to have to find a biography on Plath’s life because I think this places a big part in her writing. Can anyone recommend me a good biography?
This review originally appeared on my blog: literary-exploration.com/2014/12/05/ariel-by-sylvia-plath/
What can I say, - it's Sylvia Plath. She's a wonderful poet. Her poems are full of raw emotion.
If you like to play detective, you might enjoy Ariel - The Restored Edition even more. I did. The restored edition shows Ariel the way Plath intended for it to be published - with alternate title ideas, and many poems in different forms - and illustrates very clearly the impact her husband's editing had on this publication.
I lay my ear to furious Latin.
I am not a Caesar.
I have simply ordered a box of maniacs.
They can be sent back.
They can die, I need feed them nothing, I am the owner.
I wonder how hungry they are.
I wonder if they would forget me
If I just undid the locks and stood back and turned into a tree.
detail from âThe Arrival of the Bee Boxâ by Sylvia Plath
I lay my ear to furious Latin.
I am not a Caesar.
I have simply ordered a box of maniacs.
They can be sent back.
They can die, I need feed them nothing, I am the owner.
I wonder how hungry they are.
I wonder if they would forget me
If I just undid the locks and stood back and turned into a tree.
detail from “The Arrival of the Bee Box” by Sylvia Plath
I lay my ear to furious Latin.<br/> I am not a Caesar.<br/> I have simply ordered a box of maniacs.<br/> They can be sent back.<br/> They can die, I need feed them nothing, I am the owner.<br/><br/> I wonder how hungry they are.<br/> I wonder if they would forget me<br/> If I just undid the locks and stood back and turned into a tree.<br/><br/>detail from “The Arrival of the Bee Box” by Sylvia Plath
