Comment 12 of 13, added on December 10th, 2008 at 9:49 AM.

Alright, so here's what I got:
Going back to Plath's previous poems which most ( if not all) is about her life, I agree that this piece is about her final awakenings.
"Stasis in darkness. Then the substanceless blue Pour or tor and distances," this refers to how she has envisioned her life: calm, balanced only in her mind (darkness), however, in "the substanceless blue [real life, in the open]" it is full of endless rocky roads and obstacles.
Plath refers to numerous "Ariels" in this poem. The first, "God's lioness," the angel of new beginnings. She displays connection towards this angel, portraying her realization of her need for a new beginning. "The furrow splits and passes sister to..." referring to it's accompany in the horse's race for freedom, " the brown arc of the neck [she] cannot catch" This displays her desire to catch up to her horse (which is also named Ariel), to ride it in order to escape from her reality. "Nigger-eye," (-- perhaps envy?)..then "hooks" holding her back from her desire to start new. The following 3 paragraphs display her breakthrough. "Godiva, I unpeel dead hands, dead stringencies,"-- Godiva rode naked through the streets of Coventry in England; Plath, utilizes this image perhaps to display the sense of freedom and open-ness she now experiences.
Her third reference to Ariel is seen through "Foam to wheat, a glitter of seas." Ariel sacrificed herself by jumping into the sea (and turned into sea foam). This perhaps is a reference to death in her poem, later supported by "the child's cry melts in the wall," perhaps displaying her end to responsibilities?...


ahhh its late i quit. -.-'

Molly from United States