Ariel: The Restored Edition (13 page)

To give a sense of Sylvia Plath’s creative process, here follow the working drafts in facsimile for the title poem ‘Ariel.’ The drafts are variously numbered and dated by Sylvia Plath. The first four drafts were written on the pink Smith College Memorandum paper, as were various other drafts of the
Ariel
poems. The poem ‘Ariel’ was accepted for publication by the
Observer
and was eventually published in the
Observer
on the third of November 1963, under a variant title, ‘The Horse.’ A typeset proof of the poem from the
Observer
is appended to the end of this section. It was corrected by Sylvia Plath in mid-December 1962.