Sylvia Plath's Ariel and the Tarot

An investigation by Ann Skea, a Ted Hughes scholar, of Sylvia Plath’s use of the Tarot in Ariel, and a questioning response to Plath scholar (and author of The Occult Sylvia Plath: The Hidden Spiritual Life of the Visionary Poet) Julia Gordon-Bramer’s links between particular Ariel poems and specific cards of the Major and Minor Arcana.

“I intend to work through the Ariel poems as they are ordered in the Restored Edition, and to compare each poem with the card to which it would be linked in an initiatory Tarot journey. My description of the cards and their traditional meanings will be as brief as possible. And, since this is work in progress, I expect my understanding of Plath’s use of the Tarot to change and develop as I go along.”