Here are two pupils
whose moons of black
transform to cripples
all who look:
each lovely lady
who peers inside
take on the body
of a toad.
Within these mirrors
the world inverts:
the fond admirer’s
burning darts
turn back to injure
the thrusting hand
and inflame to danger
the scarlet wound.
I sought my image
in the scorching glass,
for what fire could damage
a witch’s face?
So I stared in that furnace
where beauties char
but found radiant Venus
reflected there.
A well known fact about the author is her severe depression which she suffered through before taking her life. This pain is reflected in nearly all of her poetry. However I find “On Looking into the Eyes of a Demon Lover” to be one of the most vivid examplesof the anguish that she endured. She illustrates an amazing emotional outpour with simple yet intriguing language. Her amazing symbolism demonstrates a unique understanding of deeper meaning in the leering gaze of wonderous eyes. The metaphorical content in this poem awed me, which is not uncommon in the works of Plath.Though she did not lead the best life, Plath’s work is, and will be,greatly appreciated by lovers of great American literature fo centuries to come.