Mirror

In this poem, the mirror is the speaker. It is an autobiographical poem. The mirror talks about itself, its surroundings and the woman who uses it. In this way, it gives its observations in an objective way without any personal bias. The mirror says that its appearance is silver and exact. It does not have any preconceptions or anything else about its existence. It is just what it is "Unmisted by love or dislike". It is neither cruel nor biased nor prejudiced, only truthful. It can be called the eye of a little god, four-cornered, that is, it is framed in a four cornered frame and it remains fixed on the wall and sees the opposite wall and only when someone comes between it and the wall or at night or in darkness, the reflection of the opposite wall goes away. The mirror is like a lake, it drowns the face of the woman, who tries to see her reflection in it. She searches for her, beauty which she had in her youth. She grows sad to see herself old now. She then turns to "candles" or the moon "which the mirror calls "liars" because these create a misted kind of surrounding around the woman's face due to which she does not see the wrinkles or signs of old age. But the woman's real identity is revealed by the mirror. Seeing her changed face, the woman sheds some tears and moves her hands angrily. The mirror is very important to the woman. Every morning she sees herself and she is filled with her fear at her reflection of having grown old. She feels like a fish out of water, but the mirror can't do anything as it reflects only the truth - that is what one really is. So, in this way, the mirror claims to be a very objective opinion giver or reflector of images. Personification In this poem, we have many examples of personification, the mirror, candles and the moon are all personified. Mirror Question (1): Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow: I am silver and exact. I have no preconception... just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike. i) Who is "I" in the above passage? ii) Why does it claim to have no preconception? iii) Why has it been described as "unmisted"? What is the image it is trying to convey about its nature? Answer: i) In the above passage, "I" is the mirror ii) The mirror can rightly claim to have no preconception because it gives the exact reflection of the object before it. iii) A misted mirror cannot give the exact image of the object before it and the mirror is not affected by love or dislike

or any other human emotions. It gives a proper and exact image, and it is trying to convey that its nature is not biased or prejudiced. Question (2): Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow: I am not cruel, only truthful.... Most of the time I mediate on the opposite wall. i) How is the mirror not cruel, but truthful? ii) Explain "The eye of a little god, four-cornered" iii) How does the mirror "meditate"? Answer: i) The person who does not like his or her own image calls the mirror cruel. The truth however, is that mirror is only truthful - giving the true image. ii) The mirror is rectangular or square and so the poet calls it four-cornered. It is also like a little god, because it has god-like impartiality. iii) When there is no one before the mirror, it keeps on reflecting the wall before it. The word "reflect" also means thinking or meditating or introspecting.

Question (3): Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow: Now I am a lake. A women bends over me .... Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon. i) How is the mirror "a lake"? ii) What is the woman searching for in the depth of the lake? iii) Why have the candles and the moon been called liars? Answer: i) The mirror is described as a lake, because the woman who stands before it, seeing her image tries to look deep into every part of her image. The depth and clarity can be seen in a lake only. Also anyone can drown in a lake. So when one looks in the mirror, one is "drowned" in it, yet one can come out, of it "alive". ii) The women bends over to see her reflection in the lake. She was once young and beautiful, but now she is wrinkled and old. She wants to see her young, beautiful face once again, so she searches inside the lake (mirror) for that iii) "The moon" and "the candles" have been called liars, because they do not give intense light, which makes the face look beautiful as the wrinkles cannot be seen clearly. In their dim light, the woman who has now grown old can see her youthful face minus the wrinkles. Since this is not the true image of the woman, they have been referred to as "liars".

Question (4): Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow: I see her back, and reflect it faithfully.... I am important to her. She comes and goes. i) Who is "she" and what does the mirror do to her? ii) How does "she" react to her face when she sees it in the mirror? iii) Explain "I am important to her. She comes and goes". Answer: i) "She" here is the woman in whose house the mirror is fixed on the wall. The woman looks in to the mirror and it reflects her image as it really is ii) "She" is the woman who looks at herself in the mirror and she feels sad because she has grown old and developed wrinkles. She moves her hands this way and that to express her despair or sadness or worry or anger at this physical change. iii) The mirror says that it is important to the woman because she uses it everyday to see her face. Question (5): Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow: In me she has drowned a young girl, and .... Like a terrible fish. i) How has "she" drowned a young girl in the mirror? ii) How does "she" reacts when "she" looks at her face reflected in the mirror? iii) Why does "she" behave like a terrible fish? Answer: i) She-meaning the woman was once a young girl. But now she has grown old. The physical changes brought about due to age and time seems to have "drowned" the young girl in the mirror and the older varnish of the woman now is reflected every time the woman looks at herself in the mirror. ii) "She" (the woman) feels very sad at the physical change. She looks into the depths of the mirror to see her young face again, but she cannot find it. She feels very upset over this fact. iii) She (the woman) behaves like a terrible fish which is out of water because she still imagines herself to be young and beautiful and cannot accept the fact that one grows old with the passage of time. She still has romantic ideas about her youth and beauty. Question (6):What is the central theme of the poem "mirror"? Answer: The poem "Mirror" by Sylvia Plath, is a comment on a woman's desire to look beautiful and always look young. For some woman, their day begins by looking into the mirror. She is glad when she finds herself looking young, charming and beautiful, but is inconsolable when the reality is otherwise. For an old woman, the mirror is like a lake. She looks carefully deep into the mirror to see the youth that has drowned in it. She then looks to candles and the moon to reveal her appearance, but the mirror calls them liars, because they hide many of her short comings like her age, and the wrinkles. The mirror is the only thing here which is unbiased and not prejudiced and reveals only the truth and gives the exact reflection.

Question (7): The mirror view of life is difficult to accept. Do you agree with the statement? Substantiate your answer with examples from the poem. Answer: The mirror does not lie, it gives only the real or true image of a person standing before it. It has no preconceived nations - it has god like fairness. However, very often it is difficult to accept reality. Especially women like to like to live in denial. They do not like to see their wrinkles reflecting loss of age and youth. They would prefer to believe that they restill beautiful and young. Like the woman in the poem they turn to the mirror every day looking for assurance of their beauty which they think is everlasting. They would prefer to see their faces in moonlight or candle light because they blur and hide much of their ugliness.

Question (8): Imagine you are the lady in the poem 'Mirror' and pen down your feelings about your changing reflection in the mirror and how it has troubled you. Answer: As usual I received a shock when I looked into the mirror I noticed a few more grey hair and some lines appearing around my eyes. My skin looks pale and blotchy. I hate looking into the mirror which highlights every ugly line on my face. I prefer to look in the candle light and moonlight as my face appears softens hiding all my ugliness and age. The mirror may be reflecting the real image but I am unable to accept. I am in deep anguish and pain every time I see myself in the mirror. I am not that old. I refuse to believe what the mirror shows to me . Sylvia Plath’s poem “Mirror” reflects many different ideas and thoughts. Her poem is dark, full of unhappiness, and only views the world from a pessimistic perspective. Given Sylvia Plath’s background it is understandable that the poem is full of dark ideas and wild nightmares. Sylvia Plath writes many more poems like “Mirror” Sylvia Plath uses imagery, personification, metaphors, and greatly shows a shift to express all of her emotions she intended to be put into the poem. Sylvia uses a wide amount of personification which helps the poem “pop out” at the reader. It helps a person get the full emotion and effect from the piece of writing. Plath starts from the very first line expressing personification. When Plath writes “I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.” She is speaking as if she were a mirror so the mirror is describing itself as a person. Another good example is when she writes “Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall,” still she writes as if the mirror is speaking to the reader. By saying “Most of the time I meditate…” meditate is a human mannerism so the mirror is taking in a human habit. In the second stanza she keeps up with the personification even with the shift from a mirror to a lake. “She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.” Plath writes this showing that the lake feels like she is being rewarded by the person bending over the lake and that the lake has feelings of tears that the woman had rewarded her with. Plath illustrates her idea and poem so well with personification and she uses other devices to also put an image in a reader’s mind. The literary device that the author uses greatly to help you picture what she’s feeling is imagery. Plath shifts points from a mirror to a lake in the second stanza. “Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me,” this shows more reflection as a mirror would have. Now a reader pictures themselves standing above a lake looking at their reflection but Plath is actually writing as the lake seeing the lady bend over her and look at her own reflection. “Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.” Is another great example of imagery because a reader almost can visualize perfectly

someone turning towards liars and the candles and the moon show a great deal of imagery and are also used as metaphors to help structure her poem. The shift that she uses also helps illustrate her perspective as she writes her poem. The shift in her poem is one of the key factors to this poem. If she had not put in that shift no one would have gotten the same idea. She goes from talking in the view of a mirror and switches in the second stanza to visualizing herself as a lake. The whole poem is speaking of reflection and how someone visualizes themselves from the surface maybe “role model” figure but in equity hiding the reality underneath the surface as Plath had once been before succeeding in her suicide. Both a mirror and a lake show a person’s reflection on the surface. Plath compares the mirror and the lake because in a mirror a figure is not shown distorted but in a lake any little ripple or current distorts a person’s surface reflection and show them who they really are underneath the skin. Plath’s poem reflects a person’s visual when they look upon themselves in a mirror. On the outside happy and healthy but in the inside underneath the perfection which Plath had once been is a distortion you hide from the world and never want to let out. Plath illustrates her idea with the literary devices of personification and imagery to help a person picture themselves in that situation. She uses the shift to get you from the perfection image in your head to the lies you hide beneath the surface