Sylvia Plath (27 October 1932-11 February 1963) was an American poet, novelist and short story writer. Plath's poetry is often associated with the Confessional Movement. Confessional poetry emphasises the intimate details about the poet's personal life and his/her feelings. Plath is known for her sensitive, insightful and honest writing. Often, her work is singled out for its imagery and playful use of alliteration and rhyme. She became the first poet to win a Pulitzer Prize posthumously in 1982 for The Collected Poems.
What do you see in a mirror? Read this poem about a woman who looks into a mirror that shows her more than her own reflection.
The poem Mirror talks about the terrible difficulty of facing the truth-especially the inevitable process of ageing. The woman sees herself morph into an older woman and she has perhaps realised that she cannot remain young forever. The Mirror is a reflection of truth and deception between which the woman is caught.
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 a 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.
What does the mirror 'meditate on' most of the time?
What does the poet mean by 'unmisted by love or dislike'?
Why does the mirror describe itself as 'The eye of a little god, four - cornered?
Why are candle and the moon 'liars'?
How has the woman 'drowned a little girl' in the mirror?
What does thiis poem tell us about physical beauty and the inevitable progress of age and time?