Stasis in darkness
-- Speaker (Line 1)

Importance: The poem begins with the image of stillness and darkness. It is the beginning of a day, but it can also stand, metaphorically, for the experience of birth. The poem begins in a sort of womb, dark and quiet, and then explodes into the outer world, full of life and action.

Pour of tor and distances
-- Speaker (Line 3)

Importance: This quotation is obscure. However, it has an internal rhyme, making it striking from an aesthetic point of view. A "tor" is a small hill, so how exactly one can "pour" one is unclear. Here, the text suggests that sound, rather than sense, is the more important aspect of the experience being described.

God's lioness
-- Speaker (Line 4)

Importance: This quote refers to the title of the poem, "Ariel." Ariel means "Lion of God". In this line, Plath reclaims that term, feminizing it and applying it to her narrator. She shows that women are capable...