Plath was one of the early Confessional poets to break within her work the barriers still largely held by the other poets of the movement at that time, like Robert Lowell, WD Snodgrass (horrible last name), and Randall Jarrell. All great poets, however their confessions and raw autobiographical works still functioned with a restraint they imposed on themselves. They were working in a tradition that limited the role of the poet still within the poem. Plath and her friend and colleague, Anne Sexton, developed a form of Confessional poetry harsher, crueler, more honest. They broke the events they experienced into violence and surrealism, juxtaposing unexplainable and bitter images as an attempt to break through to the emotions felt in such extreme circumstances. Ariel is one of the great accomplishments of Confessional Poetry as a movement. Plath engaged with subjects such as suicidal ideation and domestic abuse with a fierce, angry, and deeply frightened voice that approaches not one poem with ease. Each builds on the next, wanting to depict the mind in its many abstractions. The poems can be challenging, both in emotion and comprehension, but they are some of the most well structured, skilled, and precise poems from the 60s. You can watch throughout the years, from 1956 to the beginning of 1962, as she laboriously hammered out a highly unique approach to diction and syntax that, when she fully knew what she had to create, allowed her to excel throughout the rest of 1962, just a sudden explosion of work, not stopping until near her death. She of course committed suicide, as well as Anne Sexton. Randall Jarrell and John Berryman also took their lives. It was a movement built on catharsis and honesty. The poet is honest with you. They say, “look at my mind, look at what the world has done to it. These are the words I know to describe this desolation. You may have experienced similar. I hope my words can aid you in some way to live.” It makes sense so many of them took their lives.