The Journey Toward "Ariel" : Sylvia Plath's Poems of 1956-1959

This study of Plath's early poetry makes a number of contributions to Plath scholarship. First, it establishes a more accurate chronology for the composition dates of these poems, correcting many of the errors in dating in the order presented in The Collected Poems of Sylvia Plath. Further, based on this revised chronology, it traces Plath's development as a poet in these crucial years through a close examination of the poems. For many of these poems, the book gives new or alternative readings; for poems which may have been ignored previously, it offers first-time readings, thereby filling a gap in Plath studies. Finally, it contains reproductions of the paintings which serve as subjects of ten poems and reproductions of some of Plath's own sketches depicting scenes in a number of poems, as well as photographs of settings on which various poems are based.