Ariel: Poems

Now at long last, we get the "Ariel" we deserve. Plath's admirers have been waiting a long time, since at least the early 1980s when Ted Hughes first revealed that he had changed the order of the poems in his wife's final manuscript. He had added some poems--the final, freezingly depressing ones--and then re-arranaged the bulk of the book to leave an impression of a woman gone over the brink into a chilling fugue state. Now Frieda Hughes, Plath's daughter, 2 when her mother killed herself, has performed a ritual act of atonement to her mother's memory, and given us the original, "happy" (relatively speaking) ARIEL which we have never been able to see.At $24,95, the book's a little expensive, but it feels as though money had been spent on its planning and execution, so you don't feel rooked. In one section, the gray paper on which the facsimile materials are printed is easy on the eyes, aiding the eye as it struggles with Plath's numerous emendations. We get the notes Plath wrote for her own use when she had to do that reading at the BBC towards the end, the more-British-than-thou reading we have grown to love and hate at the same time. Frieda Hughes contributes an interesting and contextualizing introduction in which she seeks to reconcile the differing viewpoints of her mother and father--a challenging task, but she's up to it. The book ends up with four of the bee-keeping poems--and another in the appendix, "The Swarm," which Sylvia kept changing her mind about including. Should she leave it in? Take it out? The title is in brackets. Thus the book ends with a hopeful note, with the freshness of Devon instead of the bleak London winter. It ends, pleasantly enough, with the words, "They taste the spring."

This collection, and Plath in general I think, get both unfairly burdened and paradoxically minimized.So many readers want Plath to mean and to be so many things. Ultimately, this hagiography leads to diminishing the depth of her art to a patina of idiot wind like "feminist," "confessional," and "obsessed with her Daddy/Elektra stuff."All of which has unfortunately kept me away from deeply reading Plath for so long. Interestingly, I came to re-read this collection (or really, in my mind, to read it now for the first time) only because I was reading and LOVING the collected poems of Ted Hughes. He was simply blowing my mind---so I read a bit about him, and though I knew he was married to Plath and a bit about the soap operatic story of his second wife, I never appreciated how much HE, this awe inspiring genius poet stood in total awe of Plath's work. If he was that impressed, I had to see what the fuss was about.And underneath all the expectations and labels, what it's about is DAMN good poetry. The collection starts off with "Morning Song," which is the most accurate, beautiful, sad, and perfect poem I've ever read about caring for children and caring for yourself when you're caring for children. The phrase I used when describing some of the lines to my wife was "inevitable." That's the highest compliment one poet can give another---it means that she didn't get CLOSE to the "truth" of what she was trying to say...she didn't "turn a clever phrase" or tell the truth "slant." She wrote PERFECT words and lines. They HAVE TO be that way. She said it the best it can be said. Done.Luckily for artists after her, she didn't do this ALL the time (who could?) While MANY of the poems in Ariel are inevitable, some miss. Some still hold on to Plath's earlier style in Colossus wherein she attacks the Thesaurus and pursues a sense of ambiguity to the point of producing coldness and vague, limpid lines.But do not be put off by these cautions or by any possible cliche or negative expectations---Plath was an intensely gifted and cosmically touched poet---Ariel roars.

Ariel: The Restored Edition: A Facsimile of Plath's Manuscript, Reinstating Her Original Selection and Arrangement (Modern Classics) The introduction written by Plath's daughter, Freida Hughes, is especially moving. It definitely adds something interesting to the text, especially if it's not your first time reading the collection, the original version of which was arranged by Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath's ex-husband by the time she had finished "Ariel." This particular version includes the original manuscript and Plath's intended arrangement.This collection is both praised and criticized as a revolutionary "feminist" text. Plath brilliantly rebels against the cultural box of a "woman's place" in Ariel. The speaker in Ariel is blatantly dissatisfied with the monotony of domesticity, and she blazes with desire for something "more." She is larger than life, other-worldly- she does not fit in the domestic sphere.Of course this collection is also famous as it was finished just before her suicide. Plath writes beautifully of the internal struggle caused by mental illness. I read this collection once at 19 and bought this particular copy at 22, having just been diagnosed clinically "depressed" and prescribed anti-depressants. The second time through was extremely cathartic. Plath gives voice to the war depression wages against mind and body. This is an extremely important text; Plath's creative genius translates something I thought much too complex for words.

I haven't finished her book of Ariel yet. I did watch her life and times on a netflix cd movie ,"Sylvia". (Must watch!) Her writing reminds me a lot of Edgar Allan Poe.He was't sinister, he used a lot of unfamiliar vocabulary that makes one wonder his and hers being and mind-set; if you compare. The movie was very moving, touching and soulful in the sense that she had a curtain of darkness about her, her entire life, and when she finally thought she got a break, the man she was so deeply in love with broke her like a piece of china. Already fragile and exposed like a blossom in a hail storm. It's a writers nightmare, "Will I have to die to be recognized?"

The the book spine is not glued very well so you might wanna be gentle with it and keep it away from sun or heat so it doesn’t unstick.The book cover however is very pretty.

Well, I am bias

I want more ...It is a collection of forty three poems written during several stages of the author’s life reflecting her thoughts on her life and people around her. It also talks about the author’s mental health and the other health conditions.My most favourite in this collection is a poem titled ‘Tulips’. It’s so different and unique. It spoke to me the most and I saw myself thriving in between the lines of this poem.I feel this collection is not for everyone specially the young readers and the beginners. They might find it rather difficult to interpret or may find most of the poems too dark.I would suggest you to read her other book ‘Bell Jar’ if you want to read Sylvia Plath.Now both these books mean a lot to me.Some poems get overwhelming because they have revealed myself to me.

Les goûts et les couleurs en marière de littérature... Chacun se fera son avis.

Una edición preciosa, muy recomendable, estoy muy satisfecha.