Sylvia Plath's Ariel

[blur]

I have noticed Plath has used a number of "black", "darkness" and "death" in her poem Ariel.

Is there any significance there?

If yes, as I noticed the portrayal of darkness is also significant in Crossing in Water (another Plath's poem), how can the two be compared and contrasted?

Thanks

[dfloyd]

Sylvia Plath committed suicide and was probably schizophrenic or bipolar so she would have had a fixation on death.

[OrphanPip]

Ariel on the literal level is a poem about Plath's experience riding a horse (Her horse's name was Ariel). The poem itself is a series of images that could be taken literally, but also has a certain emotional resonance. Rather than looking at the links between the "dark" imagery: "nigger-eye," "darkness," "black." Look at how those images are being used in parallel with the "White Godiva" (This is horse related and should be wiki'd if you don't know the allusion) and the description of the sunrise at the end. Another, thematically linked progress through the poem seems to be the berry "blood," the "child's cry" that "melts through the wall."

Edit: Also, Ariel isn't one of Plath's poems that is very moody and depressing.

Though there's a certain dark undertone to her use of "suicidal" at the end, I think the poem is really attempting to represent a joyful and transcendent experience.