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Comment 43 of 63, added on December 19th, 2005 at 12:00 AM.
Though different interpretations are very much valid, it is always
essential to go back to the text as some of credibility check. As for me, I
guess the beauty of the poem mainly emanates from its balatant simplicity
that depicts the natural process of aging the search for one's true self.
Note that the poem is rife with such realization, which are further
heightened by the use of personification and some relevant symbolisms (e.g.
mirror, lake, candles, moon), which are very much suggestive as they are.
Gino tiu from Philippines
Comment 42 of 63, added on November 22nd, 2005 at 10:47 AM.
I'm not sure that she is looking at herself, she is the mirror (she is
exact)that is to say that perhaps she has no identity. In the second stanza
the woman she is in the present kills the child she was and the old woman
she will be. She has no past and no future. I guess the poem reflets a deep
pain, a despair. (No hopes, no remembrance).
She is always looking at the others but whitout any feelings ans Plath even
puts distance between her and them "faces and darkness seperate us over and
over" . And at the very end, she is looking for a guide ("candles or the
moon") but they are ephemeral (candle=weak flame, moon= only the reflection
of the sun). The comparison with the fish maybe means that she has only
eyes to see but without any feelings (she is looking at herself, she, the
artist is looking at herself, the weak woman.)
I love this poem.
:D
Claire from France
Comment 41 of 63, added on November 14th, 2005 at 11:01 AM.
I have read alot of skepticism at the use of the fish at the end of the
poem. This is just a guess of course, becuase she can not go back in time
and ask Sylvia herself, but maybe in using the fish she makes old age seem
rotten and that rot rises to her, day after day, like the smell of a rotten
fish and it gets worse everyday.
morgan from United States
Comment 40 of 63, added on October 26th, 2005 at 4:23 AM.
Joannes question about the fish - in my interpretation, Plath is again
describing the change the woman has gone through from a young person
looking into the mirror and become an older person still looking into the
same mirror. The reference to a 'terrible fish' helps this as a fish' skin
brings about the effect of it being scaly. Plath is trying to convey an
image that the old woman mentioned in the previous line is no longer young
or smooth, a terrible fish has been formed, a changed and older person has
grown while looking in the same mirror throughout the years.
p from United Kingdom
Comment 39 of 63, added on October 24th, 2005 at 4:03 PM.
i'v just studied this poem in english class and i love it!i think everyone
can relate to the things plath is talking about in the poem!a true work of
genius!it really describes the way we all feel when we look in a mirror!
Holly DS from Ireland
Comment 38 of 63, added on October 8th, 2005 at 5:46 AM.
Don't you think that Sylvia Plath's poem reflects a bit of all of us. She
is just Human and this poem shows her deep feelings. Everyone once in a
while cares about what they look like and wants to catch a glanze at
themselves. I think this poem is very expressive. Don't you think everyone
has they're own mirror type of mirror?
Brownie from United Kingdom
Comment 37 of 63, added on October 6th, 2005 at 11:02 AM.
In my opinion, Sylvia Plath’s poem, ‘Mirror’, is a poem about a woman who
wants to be, or wants to believe she is, beautiful. She is torn between
being who she is and the want of changing herself. She keeps coming to the
mirror to see her reflection, as we are told by ‘I am important to her’,
but she is never satisfied, as is shown by the fact that after seeing her
reflection, she has ‘tears and an agitation of hands’. We sense her
frustration in two ways. The first is the fact that she looks at herself in
a lake as well as in the mirror because she is unsatisfied with what she
sees. This could also symbolise the fact that though she runs from the
truth, she can’t escape it because she sees mirrors everywhere. The second
is shown when ‘she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon’. Candles
and the moon are generally thought to hide imperfections due to their dim
and gentle light. The mirror therefore perceives them as liars because they
deceive the woman of the way she actually looks. The woman however knows
that she doesn’t really look like that so she turns back to the mirror and
‘rewards (it) with tears’. Also, we see that the woman misses her youth in
the last two lines of the poem, ‘in me she has drowned a young girl
and...an old woman rises towards her...like a terrible fish’, the first
person in that line being the mirror. The ‘terrible fish’ could also
represent death, which draws nearer as the woman gets older.
The mirror in this poem could symbolise the truth since it describes
itself as ‘not cruel, only truthful’ and ‘the eye of a god’, showing that
it is all-knowing and honest. ‘The eye of god’ also suggests that the
mirror has some sort of power over her because she keeps coming back to the
mirror although she does not like what she sees.
Feet from Cyprus
Comment 36 of 63, added on October 3rd, 2005 at 2:58 AM.
I belive that every one can has his or her own veiw in analyzing poems,and
we can not say that this or that point of view is rong becouse when a
person read a poem, he will have his own feelings towards that very poem.
in my opinion eventhough sylvia plath had maybe some mental or psycological
problems she was a great poet who had the ability of reflecting her
personality through her poems. So in this poem I think that she is talking
about herself
alkhenbeshi from Yemen
Comment 35 of 63, added on September 21st, 2005 at 4:43 PM.
What’s going on with all these people criticizing other people comments?
Give your opinion about the poem, and that’s that. If I want your opinion
about the comments I made then I will ask you. Is that fair?
rocky from United States
Comment 34 of 63, added on August 6th, 2005 at 3:20 PM.
Hey all listen i really need help analyzing mirror could you help me out? i
just need to know what metaphors are used, what rythm the poem has and how
onomatopoeia is used please let me know if you know the answer as soon as
possible thankyou!
Anne from Australia
This poem has been commented on more than 10 times. Click below to see the other comments.
1 2 [3] 4 5 6 7
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Though different interpretations are very much valid, it is always
essential to go back to the text as some of credibility check. As for me, I
guess the beauty of the poem mainly emanates from its balatant simplicity
that depicts the natural process of aging the search for one's true self.
Note that the poem is rife with such realization, which are further
heightened by the use of personification and some relevant symbolisms (e.g.
mirror, lake, candles, moon), which are very much suggestive as they are.
Gino tiu from Philippines