Ariel

Ariel is a collection of 40 poems that Sylvia Plath wrote in a burst of creativity starting in 1960 and ending in 1963, the year she took her own life. It was published posthumously by her husband Ted Hughes in 1965, despite their turbulent marriage and eventual separation.
In this particular collection, Plath’s poems touch on a lot of different themes, yet there is no doubt that they are very personal and seem to fall under the label of confessional poetry, in which the poet uses their words as an outlet for their own life and hardships. In order to understand a lot of the themes within the text, we must know that Plath was previously diagnosed with depression, having made multiple suicide attempts, and would eventually take her own life at the age of 30.

In this way, this poetry collection is extremely indicative and reflective of the author’s life, exploring such ideas as motherhood, marriage, early childhood, the role of women, and quite intensely, mental health and its effects.

Timeline

• 27 Oct 1932: Plath is born to Otto and Aurelia Plath in Boston, Massachusetts.
• 5 Nov 1940: Otto Plath dies at age 55 from complications due to leg needing to be amputated because of his diabetes, something that could have been treated if he hadn’t avoided going to a doctor, incorrectly diagnosing himself with lung cancer.
• 1950 – 1953: Plath attends Smith College, a girls college in Massachusetts.
• Summer 1953: Plath worked as an intern for Mademoiselle Magazine. This was also her first suicide attempt at age 20, overdosing on sleeping pills, and her first stay in a mental hospital.
• 1955: Plath graduated from Smith College and started at Cambridge in England on a Fulbright Scholarship.
• 25 Feb 1956: Plath meets Hughes at a party.
• 16 June 1956: Plath and Hughes marry.
• Sept 1957 – May 1958: Plath goes back to the US to teach at Smith College.
• June 1959: Plath becomes pregnant with Frieda.
• Dec 1959: Plath and Hughes return to England to live in London.
• Nov 1959 – Apr 1960: Plath composes You’re, the first poem that will be included in Ariel.
• 1 Apr 1960: Plath’s first child Frieda is born.
• Oct 1960: Colossus, Plath’s first poetry collection, is published.
  • Jan – Aug 1961: Plath writes The Bell Jar, her only novel.
• 6 Feb 1961: Plath has a miscarriage
  • 11 – 26 Feb 1961: Plath writes Morning Song.
• 28 Feb 1961: Plath has an appendectomy and is hospitalised.
  • Mar – Oct 1961: Plath writes Tulips and The Moon and the Yew Tree.
• 17 Jan 1962: Plath’s second child Nicholas is born.
• June 1962: Plath drives her car off the road, later claiming this was a suicide attempt.
• July 1962: Plath learns of Hughes’ affair with Assia Wevill.
• Sept 1962: Plath and Hughes separate.
• 3–10 Oct 1962: This was Plath’s ‘burst of creativity’ period where where most of the work in Ariel was written. The story is that Plath was actually quite lonely at this time, with all her friends being in the US, so her life was quite mundane. According to many, she would wake at 4:00 a.m. and write before her children woke, then spend time taking care of them in amongst more writing, painting, and housework (all common themes within her poems).
  • 3 Oct – 11 Nov 1962: Plath writes The Arrival of the Bee Box, The Applicant, Daddy, Cut, Poppies in October, Ariel, Lady Lazarus, Nick and the Candlestick, The Night Dances, and Letter in November.
• Dec 1962: Plath puts her original manuscript of Ariel together, which did not include Sheep in Fog, Words, The Munich Mannequins, Balloons, Kindness, Poppies in July (amongst others) later added by Hughes.
• Jan 1963: The Bell Jar is published under the pseudonym ‘Victoria Lucas.’
  • 28 Jan – 4 Feb 1963: Plath writes Sheep in Fog, The Munich Mannequins, Kindness, Words, and Balloons.
• 11 Feb 1963: Plath commits suicide.
• 1982: Plath becomes the first person to win the Pulitzer Prize posthumously for her Collected Poems.