Ariel (Faber Pocket Poetry S.) (Paperback)

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Amazon.co.uk Review
It is difficult to read Sylvia Plath, one of the finest poets of the 20th century, without the knowledge and half-knowledge of her life and death intruding and cementing meaning on to her work. This, her second collection, published posthumously in 1965, contains some of her most fabulously versatile and energetic verse despite her preoccupation with death which is often as theatrical as it is agonising. The volume begins as she wanted with "Morning Song", a colourful, rich poem to her baby: "Love set you going like a fat gold watch". In it, she sees herself as "cow-heavy and floral in my Victorian nightgown", contrasting beautifully with the child's mouth which "opens clean as a cat's". She need not mention milk. The "clear vowels" of the baby's cries "rise like balloons", re-emphasising the lightness and playful joy she could experience through motherhood. "Night Dances", about the "pure leaps and spirals" her son performed in bed before laying down, comfort her. "Surely they travel / The world forever, I shall not entirely / Sit emptied of beauties, the gift / Of your small breath, the drenched grass / Smell of your sleep, lilies, lilies." The risky, running images and associations are breathtaking, still. There is something redemptive in her love for her child which eases her anguish. "The blood blooms clean / In you, ruby. / The pain / you wake to is not yours ... You are the one / Solid the spaces lean on, envious." Her infamous poems "Lady Lazarus" and "Daddy" are also here. In both, the first person narrator is a persona, a fiction that overlaps with autobiography. Plath once explained that "Lady Lazarus" is "a woman who has the great and terrible gift of being reborn. The only trouble is, she has to die first." Deeply sardonic in tone, she has the levity of Dorothy Parker in moments. "Dying is an art, like everything else. / I do it exceptionally well." But there is resurgence after melt-down: "Out of the ash / I rise with my red hair / And I eat men like air." Anger with her father, characterised as a Nazi, Herr Enemy extends in "Daddy". "Daddy, I have had to kill you. / You died before I had time-- / Marble-heavy, a bag full of God." It remains a staggering and disturbing poem in which she imagines herself the daughter of a Nazi and a Jew. Plath would have preferred to end the collection with "Wintering", a less contorted poem about storing honey from her beehive. It ends hopefully: "The bees are flying. They taste the spring." Often puzzling or plainly obtuse, Plath's all the better for that. --Cherry Smyth

Synopsis
Plath's best-known collection of poems which "established her reputation with its courageous and controlled treatment of extreme and painful states of mind".

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13 Reviews 5 star:  (9) 4 star:  (3) 3 star:  (1) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 4.6 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   37 of 38 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful. And important., 7 Jan 2005 By  Dog in a Flat Cap (desktop, UK) - See all my reviews This review is from: Ariel: The Restored Text (Hardcover) I have read Plath inside out and backwards, and intermittently for eight years (I discovered her at the age of 22). She is now the subject of the final chapter of my thesis, which i am just preparing for submission. My PhD supervisor encouraged me to buy this book for the sake of my thesis, although I was reluctant to buy yet another book (funds are very limited!). After all, I already had the 'Collected Poems' which lists the poems in the order plath wanted at the back of the book; I am familiar with all of them. Furthermore, I have owned and lost no less than three copies of the published 'Ariel' owing to my habit of carrying it about places with me! (Please be assured I am not some suicide-obsessed pseudo-goth.) However, this book is superb. even though I knew the correct order of the poems, reading them like this is a completely different experience. The foreword by Frieda Hughes is extremely touching, showing her troubled loyalty to both parents (Ted Hughes, who of course edited the first publication of Ariel, leaving out about a dozen of the poems that he felt were inflammatory; and including in their place some of her very last, extremely depressed/depressing works that were written shortly before her death) who have for forty years been set one against the other in the popular imagination. The trajectory of the restored text takes you down before taking you up again, famously (as noted by Hughes in his foreword to the 'Collected Poems') beginning with the word 'love' and ending with 'spring'; this being precisely as Plath desired. Whether or not you feel you wish to add this book to your collection is impossible for me to judge, but I consider this to be an essential bookshelf item, and furthermore ought to be read alongisde the prior version of 'Ariel'. The latter ends on a note so hopeless - precluding all possibility - that it shuts down on the reader like a lens. This restored text opens up a horizon. For those more interested in suicide (or what Frieda Hughes called in a poem of her own, a 'sylvia suicide doll') than in poetic or writerly integrity, then perhaps this book is not the best choice. For anyone interested more in the poetry, however, and in what it meant for this woman to write,and what it has meant that her words were compromised, then I recommend it. But whether you buy it or not, it's absolutely right and proper that this book be published. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   10 of 12 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars Living like a foot, 1 Nov 2002 By  Peter Carter (Bath) - See all my reviews The opening poem in this collection is one of the most moving and imaginatively powerful celebrations of life ever written, depicticting the joy and hope that lies in the birth of child and setting the tone for the entire collection; a tone that contrasts heavily with the traditional view of Ariel as 'poetry of depression'. Indeed, even in such poems as 'Daddy' and 'Lady Lazarus' there is a certain feeling of elation which an astute reader will no doubt pick up on, and rarely is there any feeling of the author's 'wallowing in misery'. It is clear from the outset that Plath sets out to present a balanced and almost comprehensive outlook on life; it's ups and its downs, its triumphs and its failures, and, in what is a rather excellent book of poetry (with a few fairly minor flaws) Plath has achieved just that. Though not quite '[a] woman completed', Plath nevertheless produced a collection that is both moving and intriguing. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   6 of 7 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars complex but brilliant poetry, 6 Dec 2000 By A Customer This review is from: Ariel (Paperback) i'm studying Ariel for my A-level course, and have discovered Plath to be a fabulous poet. of course, she had her problems in life, but these serve to fuel her brilliant and unique poetry. i must admit, some of the poems i find difficult to get into, but others are simply perfect, e.g. Edge, one of her last poems. if you buy one poetry book this year, make it this one! Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this) Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review › See all 13 customer reviews...		Most Recent Customer Reviews 5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, raw, urgent poems that should be read. I have always loved Plath's poetry and her anthology 'Ariel' is her poetry at its very best. Written during a difficult period in her life, these poems have a rawness and energy... Read more Published 2 months ago by Alice Song 4.0 out of 5 stars Plath's work entices you into her world... This is not simply a book of poetry written by a female writer. This is real, and raw. The emotion evoked and shared between reader and poet is out of this world... Read more Published on 2 April 2007 by ejr-2007 5.0 out of 5 stars The First Time's Always Best This was the first poetry book I read. I knew that - after reading 'Bell Jar' - Sylvia Plath would be my favourite poet. These poems express her yearning and overall defeat. Read more Published on 20 Mar 2007 by Michael David O'Neill 5.0 out of 5 stars She touches the unstable in all of us... 'Ariel' is an anthology you'll return to again and again. The wonderful thing about poetry is that it is that it is for everyone. Read more Published on 7 April 2005 by michaelmcculley 5.0 out of 5 stars Poetry that breaks There are few more searing books of poetry in the English language. It breaks, fragments, cuts like crystal. Hard, fragile truths. Read more Published on 7 Mar 2005 by Theo Erasmus 5.0 out of 5 stars At last - Ariel as Plath intended We finally have Ariel as Sylvia Plath intended it - the poems in the order left in her black ring binder in 1963. Read more Published on 23 Feb 2005 by Ms. Felicia Davis-burden 3.0 out of 5 stars Maybe more of an Icon than a book It is often impossible for the average reader to understand what Sylvia Plath is on about. A hasty study of her biographies (there are many) may allow you to pick out certain... Read more Published on 30 Nov 2004 by RA Brown 5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent... If you never buy any other poetry, buy it! 'Ariel' is an anthology you'll return to again and again. The wonderful thing about poetry is that it is that it is for everyone. Read more Published on 27 Dec 2001 by michaelmcculley 5.0 out of 5 stars an amazing auther.Truly facinating and mind-boggling. In this beautiful and thrilling collection of poems one will find an aray of inspiring, thought provoking pieces of art! Read more Published on 16 Mar 2001 by adrian.brady@ukgateway.net 5.0 out of 5 stars The Cauldron of Morning Sylvia Plath is, by far, one of my very favorite poets of the twentieth century. In "Ariel," Plath combines mythology, biblical stories and her own private demons in a... Read more Published on 17 April 1998 Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews › See all 13 customer reviews...

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