Sylvia Plaths Mirror presents the truth of the personas functionits ability to reflect what it sees through its glass no more, no less. This is also an inherent function of art and literature. Like the mirrors function in the poem, it has the ability to reflect life as how it happen. Personification is one of the literary devices used in the poem. This is through giving an inanimate object the ability to speak, which is a human trait. In understanding the bigger role of the mirror as a reflection of life, it is important to see the function of the mirror its ability to present us reality with no hesitation.
The mirror describes itself as exact and with no preconceptions (1). This describes the mirror as being direct to the point, and it does not hesitate in presenting anything that faces it. Unmisted by love or dislike pertains to the objectiveness of the mirror (3). Emotions do not affect the way it presents things, nor does the mirror try to force anyone into believing what it shows. The mirror asserts its difference from humans in saying that it has The eye of a little god, four-cornered (5). Sometimes, humans can be selective in the things they wish to perceive. They choose what they want to accept and leave out the other details. The mirror is god-like in the sense that it presents things unedited and with accuracy, seemingly near to perfection.
I meditate on the opposite wall somehow includes a human quality to the mirror (6). Reflect is the usual word linked with mirrors since it can present something we perceive with our own sense of sight. The word meditate can be considered an intellectual or mental activity (6). Meditation is more of an introspection and it is the other meaning for reflect. In addition, meditation is linked with hermits. They are people who renounce worldly things and choose to seclude themselves. The line It is pink, with speckles presents again the objective view of a mirror (7). Pink represents youth, and life (7). It represents a person full of life since blood is surfacing to ones cheek and makes the skin pinkish. The other thing the mirror sees immediately balances the view of the mirror. It is unable to oversee the speckles found in the pink wall (7). These represent the deterioration of things. Something so alive and pink can chip off, have discoloration, and become old (7).
I have looked at it so long I think it is part of my heart pertains to understanding the mirror has for pink walls and speckles which is in truth youth and deterioration (7-8). Faces and darkness separate us over and over symbolizes the passage of time (9). Many people may have looked in the mirror to see their reflection, and they come and go separating the view of the wall and the mirror. This situation is constantly repeated as depicted by the words over and over (9). This repetitiveness of life and deterioration is the source of meditation for the mirror. It may be that he knew this fact too well, experiencing it over and over, and this may be the truth the mirror is trying to present (9).
The space in between the two stanzas presents the transition or shift to another aspect of the mirror. In stanza one, the mirrors tone is more impersonal and impassive. It objectively defines its function. Stanza two shows a more personal side of the mirror as it relates an experience. The mirror in the first stanza tries to present the functions the mirror thinks it perform, stanza two presents another reflector. It begins by creating a metaphor. The mirror says Now I am a lake (10). It equates itself to a lake. Similar to the mirror, the lake has the ability to reflect what is before them. However, unlike the mirror who shows clearly and precisely what it sees, the lake does not. A lake is not stable and it is fluid. A small movement can cause ripples in the water distorting what it reflects. But unlike the mirror that is an inanimate object, the lake is naturally full of life.
The line A woman bends to me. Searching my reaches for what she really is shows an encounter with a particular woman (10-11). It may be that it is this woman who views or equates the mirror to a lake. As previously mentioned, the lake can provide an unclear and distorted view of what it reflects. Incorporating the ideas in stanza one regarding the mirrors truthfulness, it may be that this woman is unable to accept the mirrors honesty as tries to know what she really is (11). This tells a lot about the character of the woman. She seems inclined to deceiving herself for instead of choosing to look at the mirror in stanza one, she wanted to view herself from a lake who can present only half truth since it is unstable and it cannot clearly show the things it reflects.
The woman and the lake being natural things symbolize the truth about humanity people cannot accept reality in its wholeness. They wish to only see part of it and select what appeals to them. This is linked to the line Searching for my reaches for what she really is (11). This line can also be pertaining to what the woman really wanted to affirm or see herself, her identity. This idea is further emphasized by Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon (12). Like the lake, the light coming from the moon and candles will not be able to present the womans reflection in exactness like the mirror of stanza one (12). The light they can provide is not clear enough for the woman to see herself fully, and this show that there is still distortion of the truth since these objects are labeled as liars which connote deceitfulness (12).
It can show the beauty of an object but it is not truthful in presentation. tears and an agitation of hands is the reaction acquired by the mirror upon reflecting the woman faithfully (13-14). These strengths the fact that the woman is unable to accept reality as a whole, and what she is doing is selecting the facts presented to her in order to suit what she wants. The faithfulness of the mirror is like a threat to the woman. This brings it back to the previous stanza on the meditation of the mirror on pink walls and speckles (7). The mirror know too well about youth and deterioration. The woman is concerned with the mirrors knowledge of this reality. She is concerned with the truth that she is getting older like every face that separated the wall and the mirror over and over she is deteriorating which is the main reason why she resorts to candles and the moon since their light is wavering enabling her to hide the signs of age. This is clearly seen in agitation over the mirrors truthfulness.
I am important to her. She comes and goes is an understatement (15). Although the woman is afraid of seeing the truth and tries to even distort these truths that she sees, her reflection in the mirror is important to her. Evidence of this is the line Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness, just like the relationship of the wall and the mirror, the woman returns to the mirror to acquire from it the truth (16). This reflection is her only means of affirming to herself that she is existing and finding out her identity.
The use of the lake as a metaphor is used to its full capacity in the last two lines. In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish presents the woman in different stages, the young and old (17-18). The use of the word drowned has its implications (17). This may mean that the passage of her youth was sudden, it may mean that the woman was unable to appreciate her youth for she was concerned with the aging, and this fear prevented her from enjoying it. This sudden loss of youth gave rise to the terrible fish which may pertain to the age of deterioration or aging (18).
Based on the difference in ideas of the two stanzas and the real function of the mirrorto reflect life faithfullyit may also be said that the mirror is a metaphor for literature and art. Like the mirror literature and arts aim is to present life in its truthfulness. The truthfulness of art and literature present an understanding of life for people who read or look at it. Similar to the function created for the mirror. With this in mind, the poem talks about the functions of the mirror in ones life and the realization one can gain from it, and the use of art and literature which mirrors life. If one will observe, since there is no article in front of the title Mirror, there is a duality of meaning even for the title. It is both a noun and a verb. The poem may be talking about the mirror and to mirror. In relation to that, shape of the poem somehow attempts to be a mirror or to mirror. With that shape, it can be said that the second stanza is reflected by the first stanza. Similarly, the reader is the woman looking at his or her reflection, the woman who can easily be disappointed by the truth the mirror can reveal.
The mirror describes itself as exact and with no preconceptions (1). This describes the mirror as being direct to the point, and it does not hesitate in presenting anything that faces it. Unmisted by love or dislike pertains to the objectiveness of the mirror (3). Emotions do not affect the way it presents things, nor does the mirror try to force anyone into believing what it shows. The mirror asserts its difference from humans in saying that it has The eye of a little god, four-cornered (5). Sometimes, humans can be selective in the things they wish to perceive. They choose what they want to accept and leave out the other details. The mirror is god-like in the sense that it presents things unedited and with accuracy, seemingly near to perfection.
I meditate on the opposite wall somehow includes a human quality to the mirror (6). Reflect is the usual word linked with mirrors since it can present something we perceive with our own sense of sight. The word meditate can be considered an intellectual or mental activity (6). Meditation is more of an introspection and it is the other meaning for reflect. In addition, meditation is linked with hermits. They are people who renounce worldly things and choose to seclude themselves. The line It is pink, with speckles presents again the objective view of a mirror (7). Pink represents youth, and life (7). It represents a person full of life since blood is surfacing to ones cheek and makes the skin pinkish. The other thing the mirror sees immediately balances the view of the mirror. It is unable to oversee the speckles found in the pink wall (7). These represent the deterioration of things. Something so alive and pink can chip off, have discoloration, and become old (7).
I have looked at it so long I think it is part of my heart pertains to understanding the mirror has for pink walls and speckles which is in truth youth and deterioration (7-8). Faces and darkness separate us over and over symbolizes the passage of time (9). Many people may have looked in the mirror to see their reflection, and they come and go separating the view of the wall and the mirror. This situation is constantly repeated as depicted by the words over and over (9). This repetitiveness of life and deterioration is the source of meditation for the mirror. It may be that he knew this fact too well, experiencing it over and over, and this may be the truth the mirror is trying to present (9).
The space in between the two stanzas presents the transition or shift to another aspect of the mirror. In stanza one, the mirrors tone is more impersonal and impassive. It objectively defines its function. Stanza two shows a more personal side of the mirror as it relates an experience. The mirror in the first stanza tries to present the functions the mirror thinks it perform, stanza two presents another reflector. It begins by creating a metaphor. The mirror says Now I am a lake (10). It equates itself to a lake. Similar to the mirror, the lake has the ability to reflect what is before them. However, unlike the mirror who shows clearly and precisely what it sees, the lake does not. A lake is not stable and it is fluid. A small movement can cause ripples in the water distorting what it reflects. But unlike the mirror that is an inanimate object, the lake is naturally full of life.
The line A woman bends to me. Searching my reaches for what she really is shows an encounter with a particular woman (10-11). It may be that it is this woman who views or equates the mirror to a lake. As previously mentioned, the lake can provide an unclear and distorted view of what it reflects. Incorporating the ideas in stanza one regarding the mirrors truthfulness, it may be that this woman is unable to accept the mirrors honesty as tries to know what she really is (11). This tells a lot about the character of the woman. She seems inclined to deceiving herself for instead of choosing to look at the mirror in stanza one, she wanted to view herself from a lake who can present only half truth since it is unstable and it cannot clearly show the things it reflects.
The woman and the lake being natural things symbolize the truth about humanity people cannot accept reality in its wholeness. They wish to only see part of it and select what appeals to them. This is linked to the line Searching for my reaches for what she really is (11). This line can also be pertaining to what the woman really wanted to affirm or see herself, her identity. This idea is further emphasized by Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon (12). Like the lake, the light coming from the moon and candles will not be able to present the womans reflection in exactness like the mirror of stanza one (12). The light they can provide is not clear enough for the woman to see herself fully, and this show that there is still distortion of the truth since these objects are labeled as liars which connote deceitfulness (12).
It can show the beauty of an object but it is not truthful in presentation. tears and an agitation of hands is the reaction acquired by the mirror upon reflecting the woman faithfully (13-14). These strengths the fact that the woman is unable to accept reality as a whole, and what she is doing is selecting the facts presented to her in order to suit what she wants. The faithfulness of the mirror is like a threat to the woman. This brings it back to the previous stanza on the meditation of the mirror on pink walls and speckles (7). The mirror know too well about youth and deterioration. The woman is concerned with the mirrors knowledge of this reality. She is concerned with the truth that she is getting older like every face that separated the wall and the mirror over and over she is deteriorating which is the main reason why she resorts to candles and the moon since their light is wavering enabling her to hide the signs of age. This is clearly seen in agitation over the mirrors truthfulness.
I am important to her. She comes and goes is an understatement (15). Although the woman is afraid of seeing the truth and tries to even distort these truths that she sees, her reflection in the mirror is important to her. Evidence of this is the line Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness, just like the relationship of the wall and the mirror, the woman returns to the mirror to acquire from it the truth (16). This reflection is her only means of affirming to herself that she is existing and finding out her identity.
The use of the lake as a metaphor is used to its full capacity in the last two lines. In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish presents the woman in different stages, the young and old (17-18). The use of the word drowned has its implications (17). This may mean that the passage of her youth was sudden, it may mean that the woman was unable to appreciate her youth for she was concerned with the aging, and this fear prevented her from enjoying it. This sudden loss of youth gave rise to the terrible fish which may pertain to the age of deterioration or aging (18).
Based on the difference in ideas of the two stanzas and the real function of the mirrorto reflect life faithfullyit may also be said that the mirror is a metaphor for literature and art. Like the mirror literature and arts aim is to present life in its truthfulness. The truthfulness of art and literature present an understanding of life for people who read or look at it. Similar to the function created for the mirror. With this in mind, the poem talks about the functions of the mirror in ones life and the realization one can gain from it, and the use of art and literature which mirrors life. If one will observe, since there is no article in front of the title Mirror, there is a duality of meaning even for the title. It is both a noun and a verb. The poem may be talking about the mirror and to mirror. In relation to that, shape of the poem somehow attempts to be a mirror or to mirror. With that shape, it can be said that the second stanza is reflected by the first stanza. Similarly, the reader is the woman looking at his or her reflection, the woman who can easily be disappointed by the truth the mirror can reveal.
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