Mirror
by Sylvia Plath
I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
Whatever I see, I swallow immediately.
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike
I am not cruel, only truthful –
The eye of a little god, four-cornered.
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 a part of my heart. But it flickers.
Faces and darkness separate us over and over.
Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me.
Searching my reaches for what she really is.
Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.
I see her back, and reflect it faithfully
She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.
I am important to her. She comes and goes.
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.
Part 1:
ReplyDeleteI think that the speaker of this poem is a person with deep thoughts and has been through a lot. The poem seems to be addressed to someone who needs lighting up or someone who needs to be reminded the good in them. This poem is set at a lake. "Now I am a lake. A women who bends over me." This just shows where this took place. I see a lot of imagery in this poem. "She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands." I imagine a lady crying tears of joy thanking someone. Imagery impacted the poem a lot because a lot of times, it's better to have people imagine what's happening in the poem in their head.
Part 2:
"Mirror" by Sylvia Plath, explains how people see so much bad in themselves, that they never look at the good in it. The "person" helping this lady to see they good in her, shows her how much she has. The mood of this poem I would say is sad. I realize that at the end it gets happier, but the mood doesn't change. I think it's sad because I read it with a sad voice. The part where it said "In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me and old women." That's not really something to say happily. The tone of the poem a mysteries tone because you never would know what would happen next. "Rises toward her day after ay, like a terrible fish." That quote had me thinking. The theme of the poem is to always see the good in yourself. "Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness." This quote to me was deep because it means that she realized that the darkness was just her thoughts getting to her. The basic idea of this paragraph was to set the idea of the poem. The meaning of this poem is to never let your thoughts get you down.
Part 3:
I really liked this poem because it had a lot of meaning to it. I really liked when it said "I am important to her. She comes and goes," because I think it is so great to be important to someone because that means someone either looks up to you, loves you, or both. What does this poem mean to you guys?