What is the significance of the title of Sylvia Plath's poem "Ariel"?

Question

What is the significance of the title of Sylvia Plath's poem "Ariel"?

Answer 1

"Ariel" was Plath's favorite horse

Answer 2

This is one of the more interesting poems of the 20th century.  The denotation of the title is gentle, and threefold: literally, Ariel was the author's horse.  The poem is a description of the author sensing power in her exhilarating helplessness, almost fallen off and clinging to Ariel's neck (the brown arc/of the neck I cannot catch).  By allusion, Ariel is also the magical spirit serving Prospero, a sort of fey instrument adding richness to the idea of the horse, and perhaps making it a symbol for art.  Although this is the first association that will capture a new reader, it is the least significant.  More importantly, Ari'el means `Lion of God' in Hebrew (El is god, as in El'izabeth, oath of god, Ezeki'el, strengthened by God, etc.), and was a name for the city of Jerusalem in the Old Testament.  Plath is explicit about this in line 4: `God's lioness....'  I think the important sense here is the prophecy it was to be destroyed by fire-- the poem ends as a frenzied ride upon Ariel into the sun.  Often commented is that this frenzy of art is what creates or fortifies identity-- the profusion of `i' sounds in the last couple of stanzas is obviously deliberate.