In society, women in the past and even in the present have suffered some form of oppression due to their female identity and the patriarchal world in which they live. Therefore, to reflect this many texts will often represent women as victims. The poets Sylvia Plath and Amy Lowell both demonstrate this in their poems `Ariel' and `Patterns'. The use of a large variety of techniques enrich the poems with substance and assist significantly in conveying the their ideas.

The poem `Ariel' is about a woman riding on a horse. However, the poem explores much deeper concepts, using the ride as a metaphorical journey to something much more powerful. In the poem, Sylvia Plath begins the poem with intense imagery. The line `Stasis in darkness' is the only line in the entire poem that does not describe movement. It juxtaposes the rest of the poem with its inactivity...