Hold onto your horses; you're in for a wild ride with "Ariel." When the poem starts out, the speaker is in quiet, still, early morning darkness. Then she, and we, are jerked to attention. The speaker's horse, Ariel, takes off at a crazy gallop, and the speaker is "haul[ed] through air." At first, she seems scared, but as she begins to take in the world flashing around her, she seems to develop a deep appreciation of her wild ride. She's lost control, but by the end of the poem, the speaker is "at one" with the drive of her wildly galloping Ariel.