Summary

The poem begins with the speaker in stasis. Then, seeing the blue sky, she compares herself to a "lioness" and throws herself into a horse ride (4). She feels one with the horse, their bodies moving together in an arc. She is almost flying through the air, developing a new sense of her body in space as she does. She sees dark berries and imagines tasting them, like blood, in her mouth. Comparing herself to the figure of Lady Godiva, she rides as fast as she can, comparing herself to an "arrow" (27). The poem ends with the image of a morning dawning.

Analysis

“Ariel” is a poem that seems to resist interpretation and analysis. It is almost entirely abstract, with only the simplest of plots — a woman riding a horse in the early morning — and even that is somewhat difficult to follow. But “Ariel” is...