Mirror

Mirror

Sylvia Plath was one of the most admired poets of the 20th century. She was part of the “Confessionalism" movement, a style of poetry, focusing on extreme moments of individual experience. She wrote the poem Mirror in 1961. It is a lyric poem in free verse which was a type of poetry with rhythms based on words patterns rather than meter. This poem is about appearances and the reality of aging. This poem has two distinct settings. In the first stanza, the setting is in a room and in the second stanza the setting is on a lake. The author personified a mirror which reflect with "silver and exact" and "no preconceptions" an undeniable truth to the viewer the reality of aging. In this comment, I will analyze the role and the personality of the two protagonists of this poem.

The mirror

Plath gives the mirror humanlike traits. As human, this mirror “swallow”, “meditate”, “look” and “think”. These traits help the reader understand why the woman is emotionally connected to it. The mirror has looked at the opposite pink, speckled wall so long that it says, "I think it is part of my heart." This seems a sort of judgment, a despairing comment about the distance placed between the "part of my heart" that the mirror always sees. It suggests that the mirror is invested with feelings, despite his claim of been “unmisted by love or dislike”.

The mirror understands how significant it is to the woman and says, "I am important to her." The first stanza gives the reader the understanding that the mirror is praising itself, comparing himself as a god. Moreover, the second stanza, reveal the sadistic aspect of the mirror. As the woman aging, she becomes tormented: "She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands." This seems a like a sadistic reaction to feel rewarding by receiving such a pained reaction for telling the truth.

The Woman

The mirror offers an honest reflection of what it sees: "I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions." Which forces the woman to confront the reality of her physical appearance. The woman is aging and has, in effect, her younger self "drowned" and swallowed in the mirror.

The woman re-examines her appearance in the reflection of the lake. The woman realizes she is aging, she reacts “with tears and an agitation of hands." The woman understands that “candles and the moon” don't offer a realistic understanding of who she is. That at the end, only the mirror can do that. Nevertheless, she's saddened by the reality that she's no longer a young woman, but she became an old woman. "In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman rises toward her..." The woman struggles with the loss of her beauty as she's aged. She's devastated and horrified by what she sees.

The poem ends with such a hopeless parallel to describe the woman's aging reflection, the woman’s bitter resentment about her condition appear clearly to the reader. The mirror says her reflection, "Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish." The woman is unhappy about her physical appearance. She is frustrating of her self-awareness. She doesn't see herself as a beautiful woman anymore, but

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