Sylvia Plath- Mirrors Notes

 

Mirror

 Themes: Ageing, Identity, Self Reflection

Ageing

The poem describes a woman seeing herself growing older and older in a mirror each day. (more accurately the mirrors point of view  as her youth fades). One line in particular that highlights this 'in me she has drowned a young girl,and in me an old woman'. This line shows how the woman feels that her youth and beauty have been swallowed by the mirror and that she has been left old and wrinkled. The colour 'pink' is also mentioned, used to describe the wall, and 'pink' is widely seen as a colour representing youth.

Identity and Self Reflection 

Throughout this poem it is clear that the woman is preoccupied with her reflection even though the mirror is unbiased and doesn't exaggerate, the woman can't accept the reality and doesn't believe it to be herself in the reflection. 'I am silver and exact' confirms the mirror is unbiased  and the poet suggest the mirror is 'not cruel, only truthful' showing that even if people don't like what they see, the mirror isn't actively trying to hurt them. .

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Imagery Reflective Surfaces

Two reflective surfaces were mentioned in this poem; in the first stanza it was a mirror and in the second stanza was a lake. The mirror in this poem has thoughts and feeling due to personification. Through well thought out and descriptive images we are shown how a mirror is unlike a person, as it a doesn't lie. Mirrors reflect what is there 'I have no Preconceptions' whereas people reflect what others want to hear or see.

Water imagery is used in the second stanza since it provides the same reflective qualities as the mirror but also suggests depth, coldness and the unknown. The dark line of 'she had drowned a young girl' it is apparent that the lake represents time, and time had 'killed' the young girl and turned her into an 'old woman'

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Language Features Personification, Metaphor

Personification

The poem is told through the point of view of a mirror. The mirror is made to think and speak like a person, commenting on the woman's discomfort with her own image. The mirror compares itself to the  'eye of a little god' because of the importance the woman places on it. By personifying the mirror, the poem makes the readers give an inanimate object more power than it deserves. In the end though, it is nothing but a reflective piece of glass.

Metaphors

In my opinion there are two very evident metaphors in this poem. The first one 'four cornered' this metaphor can mean the four corners of the world, showing that everyone being experiences the youthful drowning that the woman in the poem experiences day after day. The second metaphor in this poem is 'like a terrible fish'. This can also be seen as a simile due to the use of the word  'like'. This line highlights how the woman watches with horror at the approach of old age, which she views as monstrous. 

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Tones Detached

I believe the tone of this poem to be detached from. It is clear that in the first stanza that the mirror is neutral, neither favouring or distorting what it sees. It portrays people 'Just as it is'. In the second stanza, the mirror is now a lake and the woman 'rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands' can't accept the reality of aging. However the lake doesn't care, it still only shows her the truth 'reflect it faithfully' hence why I believe the lake to be detached from emotion.