A literary analysis essay exploring Sylvia Plath's "Mirror." It will examine poetic devices, themes, structure, tone, and mood. The analysis will be supported by evidence from the poem and potentially include biographical context and critical perspectives. Notes to ace the IEB matric exams
Mirror
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.
Sylvia Plath’s “Mirror” is a complex and evocative poem that delves into themes of
identity, aging, and the nature of reflection. The poem is notable for its unusual speaker:
a mirror. This unconventional perspective allows Plath to explore the relationship
between self and image with a unique and unsettling clarity.
The Mirror as an Unbiased Observer
The poem opens with the mirror introducing itself as a “silver and exact” object, devoid
of emotion or judgment. It positions itself as a neutral observer, capable of reflecting
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