Ariel by Sylvia Plath

The Ariel-period poems of Sylvia Plath demonstrate her desire for rebirth, to escape the body that was "drummed into use" by men and society. I will illustrate the different types of rebirth with examples from the Ariel poems, including "Lady Lazarus," "Fever 103," "Getting There," and "Cut." "Lady Lazarus," the last of the October poems, presents Plath as the victim with her aggression turned towards "her male victimizer (33)." Lady Lazarus arises from Herr Doktor's ovens as …

…the "true poet" that wrote them. Sylvia achieved in poems what she thought she could not or did not achieve in life: the ability to do as she wanted, to be a mother and wife but not constricted into a domestic hell or to be pinned down by the oppressive society which did not accept her for being a poetess. She was able to "still speak from within her "deeper self" through her writing" (Kinsey-Clinton 1).