Sylvia Plath's Ariel Poems

Melissa S. Green # in The Collected Poems 138 199 164 203 182 139 198 142 181 185 191 163 201 174 194 205 130 186 168 187 195 175 196 167 202 200 184 197 153 173 204 189 147 183 122 188 176 177 178 179 180 Selected by Plath in December 1962 for inclusion in Ariel (as she ordered them) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 Morning Song The Couriers The Rabbit Chaser Thalidomide The Applicant Barren Woman Lady Lazarus Tulips A Secret The Jailer Cut Elm The Night Dances The Detective Ariel Death & Co. Magi Lesbos The Other Stopped Dead Poppies in October The Courage of Shutting-Up Nick and the Candlestick Berck-Plage Gulliver Getting There Medusa Purdah The Moon and the Yew Tree A Birthday Present Letter in November Amnesiac The Rival Daddy You're o Fever 103 The Bee Meeting The Arrival of the Bee Box Stings The Swarm Wintering Date of composition Feb 19, 1961 Nov 4, 1962 May 21, 1962 Nov 8, 1962 Oct 11, 1962 Feb 21, 1962 Oct 23-29, 1962 Mar 18, 1961 Oct 10, 1962 Oct 16, 1962 Oct 24, 1962 Apr 19, 1962 Nov 6, 1962 Oct 1, 1962 Oct 27, 1962 Nov 14, 1962 Oct 1960 Oct 18, 1962 Jul 2, 1962 Oct 19, 1962 Oct 27, 1962 Oct 2, 1962 Oct 29, 1962 Jun 30, 1962 Nov 6, 1962 Nov 6, 1962 Oct 16, 1962 Oct 29, 1962 Oct 22, 1961 Oct 30, 1962 Nov 11, 1962 Oct 21, 1962 Jul 1, 1961 Oct 12, 1962 Jan-Feb 1960 Oct 20, 1962 Oct 3, 1962 Oct 4, 1962 Oct 6, 1962 Oct 7, 1962 Oct 9, 1962 First published (if not in 1965 U.K. ed. of Ariel ) Order of poems in 1966 American edition of Ariel (as ordered by Ted Hughes) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 Morning Song The Couriers Sheep in Fog The Applicant Lady Lazarus Tulips Cut Elm The Night Dances Poppies in October Berck-Plage Ariel Death & Co. Lesbos Nick and the Candlestick Gulliver Getting There Medusa The Moon and the Yew Tree A Birthday Present Mary's Song Letter in November The Rival Daddy You're o Fever 103 The Bee Meeting The Arrival of the Bee Box Stings The Swarm Wintering The Hanging Man Little Fugue Years The Munich Mannequins Totem Paralytic Balloons Poppies in July Kindness Contusion Edge Words

Winter Trees (1971-72) Winter Trees (1971-72) The Collected Poems (1981) The Collected Poems (1981) The Collected Poems (1981)

The Collected Poems (1981) Crossing the Water (1971) Ariel (American ed., 1966)* Winter Trees (1971-72) Winter Trees (1971-72) Winter Trees (1971-72)

Winter Trees (1971-72)

The Collected Poems (1981)

Ariel (American ed., 1966)*

* Also published in Winter Trees (1971-72).

Selected by Ted Hughes for inclusion in published editions of Ariel 123 158 170 206 208 213 214 215 217 220 221 222 223 224 The Hanging Man Little Fugue Poppies in July Years Mary's Song Sheep in Fog The Munich Mannequins Totem Paralytic Kindness Words Contusion Balloons Edge Jun 27, 1960 Apr 2, 1962 Jul 20, 1962 Nov 16, 1962 Nov 19, 1962 (American edition only) Nov 16, 1962; Jan 28, 1963 Jan 28, 1963 Jan 28, 1963 Jan 29, 1963 Feb 1, 1963 Feb 1, 1963 Feb 4, 1963 Feb 5, 1963 Feb 5, 1963

[Plath] was conscious of what she was trying to achieve. The Ariel we read is not the book she knew. In a sense, the Hughes organization is more accurate -- autobiographically. Plath's ordering of the collection attests to her vision.
Patricia Hampl, "The Smile of Accomplishment: Sylvia Plath's Ambition," Iowa Review 25(1): 18, 19 (1995).

Sources: Sylvia Plath, The Collected Poems . Ed. by Ted Hughes. New York: Harper & Row, 1981, especially pp. 295-296. Sylvia Plath, Ariel. (American edition). New York: Harper & Row, 1965 [1966].

Compiled 1997 by Melissa S. Green http://www.henkimaa.nu/writings/crit/plath/ariel.pdf