Poetry Explication of Sylvia Plath’s “Mirror�? Essay Example
Poetry Explication of Sylvia Plath’s “Mirror”
The first thing one can notice in Sylvia Plath’s poem “Mirror” (rpt. In Thomas R. Arp and Greg Johnson, Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, 9th ed. [Boston: Wadsworth, 2006] 680) is that the speaker in the poem is the mirror and the woman in the poem is Sylvia Plath. As you read through the poem, the lake is relevant because of the famous mythological story of narcissus. He was extremely beautiful and one day while drinking from a lake he saw his reflection. He looked at it for so long and so close that he fell in the river and died. This shows the consequences of vanity. Sylvia Plath uses this metaphor to show that the little girl that used to look in that mirror has now drowned and an old woman rises towards her "like a terrible fish". This shows her dislike for herself. Sylvia Plath has been looking in this mirror every day for a long period of time, and she sees that she is getting older and she despises it. We get a sense of a time period because it says "over and over" and "day after day". Sylvia Plath had severe depression and she had very little compassion for herself. This poem shows how she is scared of the truth the mirror is showing her and how she tries to go to other things to feel young again. The first line is interesting “I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.” This tells the reader something interesting because silver is something that we all picture the moon. The moon reflects the sun and the mirror reflects everything. The mirror also tells us that it has no before thoughts of what happens. In the second and third lines the mirror tells us “Whatever I see I swallow immediately just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.” What this means is that the mirror will take what it gets immediately and show it back exactly how it is, it will not show you something different whether it loves the person it shows or hates them. The fourth and fifth line state “I am not cruel, only
The first thing one can notice in Sylvia Plath’s poem “Mirror” (rpt. In Thomas R. Arp and Greg Johnson, Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, 9th ed. [Boston: Wadsworth, 2006] 680) is that the speaker in the poem is the mirror and the woman in the poem is Sylvia Plath. As you read through the poem, the lake is relevant because of the famous mythological story of narcissus. He was extremely beautiful and one day while drinking from a lake he saw his reflection. He looked at it for so long and so close that he fell in the river and died. This shows the consequences of vanity. Sylvia Plath uses this metaphor to show that the little girl that used to look in that mirror has now drowned and an old woman rises towards her "like a terrible fish". This shows her dislike for herself. Sylvia Plath has been looking in this mirror every day for a long period of time, and she sees that she is getting older and she despises it. We get a sense of a time period because it says "over and over" and "day after day". Sylvia Plath had severe depression and she had very little compassion for herself. This poem shows how she is scared of the truth the mirror is showing her and how she tries to go to other things to feel young again. The first line is interesting “I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.” This tells the reader something interesting because silver is something that we all picture the moon. The moon reflects the sun and the mirror reflects everything. The mirror also tells us that it has no before thoughts of what happens. In the second and third lines the mirror tells us “Whatever I see I swallow immediately just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.” What this means is that the mirror will take what it gets immediately and show it back exactly how it is, it will not show you something different whether it loves the person it shows or hates them. The fourth and fifth line state “I am not cruel, only