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 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.
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.
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.
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!
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?
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.
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
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?
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!
People, at least try to say something intelligent. (I’m talking to you Kavita and Heather) “Oo, this poem rocks! It kicks ass!” In comments like yours is the degeneration of education. On another note, I think Kathleen is right on the money, and I think the ending about the fish is a metaphor for her image of an old woman. Maybe she’s comparing her aged visage to a fish.
I’ve liked this poem because it shows the reality in life.Nobody can hide his or her true images.Here the poet is showing her fears of ageing.A mirror shows us our true appearance.This poem makes me reflect a lot.
Plath’s poem Mirror is in a way how she thinks about her self but it is still a very good poem that she had wrote and i LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I enjoy this poem alot, this very poem is what got me interested in Slvia Plath.Through the poem “Mirror” Plath expresses herself through the mirror. In certain lines she shows that she is dissapointed in herself and doesn’t want to get old.
well, I really like this poem. I had used this poem as a presentation material in my poetry class, and it was wonderfil. The lecturer was very impressed. I had a good learning from this poem and more knowlegde about Sylvia.I think she describes herself as a mirror.I just want to read this poem again and again.
I would just like to thank Jenny Shungu from the U.S. for offering such an extensive analysis on this poem. I’m not not that great at interpreting poetry. After I read this poem, I analyzed it myself and wanted to compare mine to others analysises. I find many simalarities between mine and hers. I will sure take her ideas and mix them in with mine. Thank you very much!
I think the peoem is ruined by its abrupt, and quite honestly, random ending. I have read all the comments on what the ‘fish’ is supposed to be and don’t really see any of them as viable if anyone has any isights i would much appreciate them, especially with the end of a poem being so important.
This poem is important. It is clear, and though it may be a metaphor for her life or her personal experiences such as suicide attempts or her husband’s infidelity, it can also be taken at face value. The fact that it can be enjoyed on both levels allows it to reach out to a wide audience, which makes it a true success.
you guys are disgusting and disrespectful. mirror is a beautiful poem about love, lies, truth and self esteem.
Did anyone else feel like a wank after eading this poem
ylvia Plath was born in Boston in 1932, and she passed away in 1963. Although she lived a very unique lifestyle Sylvia Plath became a very well known respectable poet. Plath published her first poem at the age of eight. She suffered from a serious mental illness, and committed suicide at the age of thirty. She wrote many poems, but the ones selected by her late husband Ted Hughes were published in 1985. Among the poems that were selected was one of her most famous piece called Mirror.
The poems Mirror is about a women looking to a mirror for its truthfulness when searching for her true identity.
The mirror in the poem symbolizes truth. Truth is a powerful tool in the piece. The mirror is cold and sharp like its touch. When you look into a mirror you only see what is there, the phase “Whatever I see I swallow immediately”2 supports my statement. If a person has flaws a mirror will be straight forward and display them with no hesitation “Searching my reaches for what she really is”11. In the first stanza, the “I am not cruel, only truthful”4 phrase reveals the mirror’s personality and charter. Unlike humans a mirror cannot judge her with opinions. Sylvia Plath uses onomatopoeia to give the mirror human characteristics. On line five she writes “The eye of a little god, four-cornered” which shows that the mirror is given God-like powers over the women. It becomes almost an obsessive relationship between the mirror and the women because she looks to the mirror for comfort only to confronted with the truth about your youth wasting away.
The mirror triggers conscious and unconscious memories of her life faithfully. On line thirteen it reads “ I see her back, and reflect it faithfully” once again showing that truthful charter of the mirror. Regardless of the fact she hates her reflection the women becomes dependent on the mirror, and on line fifteen you can see that relationship were it saws “I am important to her. She comes and goes”15. The phase “I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions”1. Shows that a mirror is not capable of showing anything else, then what is put in front of it. The mirror shows no color and has no preference.
Although the mirror revels reality the women still clings to objects that blind her from the truth. In the second stanza, the phases“Then she turn to those liars, the candles or the moon”12 shows that the women is attempting to hide her flaws behind the darkness. It is very clever that Sylvia Plath used the candles and moon light in this poem because those two items usually are used for romance. While searching for her identity she contradicts herself by running away from the truth, instead of embracing it.
Even away from the mirror the woman is forced to face reality through nature. The lake is very similar to the mirror because they both reveal the women’s true identity and honest reflection. Plath uses a metaphor to refer to the candles and moon as lairs because they just reveal shadows, and they only show half of the big pictures. The candles and moonlight don’t give the exact truth like the mirror. The candles and moon are just distractions to finding the essential self. The candle and moonlight show her a deceptive delusion by hiding winkles, dentures, hair loss, and weight gain.
The phase “Now I am a lake”10 reveals the transformation of the mirror. The women then realizes even outside of her home she can’t escape the truth. It is obvious that she is unhappy with her reflection. On line fourteen it states “She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands”, which implies that she is aging, and it is difficult for her to except the aging process with open arms. While she is crying the mirror sees it was a reward and has no sympathy. The women misses the youth and beauty of the young girl she was. On line seventeen it states “In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old women”17. It is very difficult for the women to go though the aging process because she feels depressed and insignificant.
The last line of the poem reads “Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish”18, indicates that she feels insecure about her reflection. It is interesting that Plath choose a fish instead of any other animal. When Plath used a lake in place of a mirror she may have needed a creature that lived in a lake to compare her feeling of living in the mirror. She is trying to make to point that a fish depends on water the same way the woman depends on the mirror. Usually fish are very glamorous animals because they come in all different shapes and sizes, but the women in the poem contradicts that stereotype. She sees herself as a something terrible because of her fading beauty. Sylvia Plath suffered from depression and had very little compassion for herself. This poem shows how she was sacred from the truth the mirror was showing her. Throughout this poem there is a theme of the truth and lies. The poem Mirror is about a women torn between the true picture of herself and the distorted image others see of her.
I think this is a beautiful poem which doesn’t have to be over analyzed. What I like to do is just sit back and enjoy the beauty of it.