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.

Analysis, meaning and summary of Sylvia Plath's poem Mirror

72 Comments

  1. veena kumari M says:

    this poem is very beautifull and great.it says how it is importent to our life as well as functins also,it says real characters of human lifes and womens and mirror is a one kind of polestar,that mean sometime we are miss behave and wrong ,,,that time it shows the reality,what we does? so mirror is importent.

  2. rosa says:

    Saved me from failing a class.

  3. Poliop says:

    Pickachu is the mirror. And he will drown in in a lake, as he says. Also, he thinks your an old women.

  4. mritunjay singh says:

    what a fantastic poem it is describing that at one time we all will suffer by this age. like old women in this story

  5. nancy says:

    the theme of the poem is really true because when i read this poem first time i just was thinking about my future.one time is comes when i become old and old like others .

  6. Jyoti Soni says:

    It has given me inspiration as i am a girl and in future perhaps i will also face this situation.A mirror is always truthful as it reflects the reality of life…

  7. Sushil Kaushal says:

    The Poem is very moving. It reflects nothing else but truth. I like it for telling the truth at the face without being emotional. The lady should not feel bad and instead face the reality of ageing process without fear.Comaprison to the God is not far fetched.It is real.

  8. Sharm says:

    I agree with Nirav Devnani.”Mirror” reflects a very simple idea of change.

  9. binay says:

    my matric english teacher told me she had
    a miscarriage so I think the last two lines refer to her baby daughter dying inside her, drowning, and everyday she feels old and terrible, remembering everyday her faults as a woman

  10. Kirsten says:

    does anyone else think that the woman in the poem is looking into the mirror in search of herself? because from what i’ve read about plath as a person she suffered from an identity crisis of sorts and her search in the mirror could have to do with her search for self. any comments would be appreciated

  11. chandramouli.billa says:

    this is very good and better poem and it saying truthful whenever we are seeing our face in the mirror. I’am thanking you to written this poem

  12. Joe says:

    Interesting interpretation though there is no need to be so smug “Ste UK”.

    What amuses me about what you have typed is that you have the cheek to comment on Americans but as a Brit you have terrible grammer.

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