8/9/2019 16 - Mirror

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Mirror

I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.

Whatever I see I swallow immediately

Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.

I am not cruel, only truthful The eye of a little god, four-cornered.

Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.

It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it for so long

I think it is a part of my heart. But it flickers.

Faces and darkness separate us over and over.

Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me,

Searching my reaches for what she really is.

Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.

I see her back, and reflect it faithfully.

She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.

I am important to her. She comes and goes.

Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.

In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman

Rises towards her day after day, like a terrible fish.

Sylvia Plath

The mirror has been personified and the poem is narrated from its perspective.

It begins with a simple statement: I am silver and exact. The mirror is

describing its appearance (silver) and the nature of its reflection (exact).The fact that it is exact is reinforced by the following statements: I have no

preconceptions; Whatever I see I swallow immediately / Just as it is,

unmisted by love or dislike; I am not cruel only truthful. The mirror isobjective it is not influenced by any emotion, such as love or dislike,

which could make it subjective.

It is the eye of a little god. Why do you think this metaphor is used? Is it

because the mirror sees everything? Is it because the woman worships it?We know that the mirror is in a womans house because it meditates on a

pink wall. Pink is a colour which is stereotypically associated with the

female sex.

The wall flickers because faces and the darkness come between it and themirror.

In the second verse, the mirror uses a metaphor to describe itself as a lake.

Do you think the mirror is describing itself as a lake because it is seen andsees through the womans tears? Could there be another reason?

The woman searches the mirrors reaches for what she really is. The

woman appears to want to face the reality offered by the mirror; however, she

is not happy with what she finds as she turns to those liars, the candles or themoon. The woman prefers to see her image misted. When faced with the

reality of her appearance, she is disturbed. She cries and appears agitated.

Her appearance is clearly important to her.The mirror states: In me she has drowned a young girl. This metaphorical

image of the woman drowning herself in the mirror due to her obsession

with her appearance reminds us of the story of Narcissus.

The woman wants to be the young girl that she once was this is what shesearches the mirrors reaches for a trace of her youth. She cannot come to

terms with the fact that she has aged and is now an old woman. The reality

that she has aged is compared to a terrible fish. It is appropriate that animage of a fish is used because the mirror has become a lake. The fish isterrible because it represents all that disturbs the woman.

Structure and Form

The poem is a combination of an elegy and a dramatic monologue. It is

like an elegy because of its mournful mood and because it laments

something that is critical to the meaning of the poem.

The rhythm of the poem creates the idea that the persona is mourning

(the loss of her youth).

The beginning of the second verse signifies that there is a change/twist

to the theme in the first verse.

Comparative Ideas

Consider other poems in the collection that are also about old age, and

those that are specifically about female experiences.