MIRROR

S Y LV I A P L AT H
Sylvia Plath (1932-1963)
• American woman poet born and grew up in Boston.
• She attended Cambridge University in England and there
married the English poet Ted Hughes.
• Only one volume of her work, The Colossus, was
published during her lifetime.
• The three volumes that were published after her death
make it plain that the last years of her short life were
deeply troubled.
• She is a “confessional” poet, because much of her writing
deals with personal experiences.
 Acts without thinking

Mirror Personification:
mouth (reflect) a preconceived idea or
Personification:
prejudice
eyes
I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
Unmisted: not covered by a haze or film over the
Whatever I see I swallow immediately
eyes  not influenced by emotions; non-
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike. judgemental

I am not cruel, only truthful, Objective; impartial

The eye of a little god, four-cornered.

metaphor
Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.
It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long
I think it is part of my heart. But it flickers. unsteady
The mirror has gained feminine qualities
Faces and darkness separate us over and over.
Mirror Pun: reflection + depth
Searching for the
truth; trying to
Metaphor measure her worth
because of liquid

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

Provide a false or untrue image
Searching my reaches for what she really is.
Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.
Honest reflection of
I see her back, and reflect it faithfully.
reality
She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.
I am important to her. She comes and goes. Upset; disturbed
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 toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.

Simile Time; aging; her youth is passing by

Analysis
Stanza 1
The first stanza concentrates on the exact truthfulness of the mirror and its ability to reflect
precisely.
Stanza 1I
The second stanza shows a change as the mirror becomes a liquid; it gains depth and a different
dimension.

Speaker: The mirror

Narration: First-person

Subject: The speaker is dreading the idea of ever growing old and settling down.
Theme: appearances and the search for the self. 
Personification: The mirror is personified to show the importance the mirror has in people’s lives.

Style: Free verse

Symbol: ”pink”  female; feminine

Metaphor:
“The eye of a little god”  has authority over its subjects
‘’ I am a lake’’  mirror becomes deep, reflective waters

Simile:
‘’like a terrible fish’’  as ugly as an old fish