Analysis of Poem "Mirror" by Sylvia

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Updated on January 19, 2019

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"Mirror" – Sylvia Plath - Critical Summary

Introduction:

The Mirror was written by Sylvia Plath in 1961, but wasn’t published until 1971, eight years
after her death by suicide. The poem is written from the perspective of a mirror and details
what it sees and how it relates to the woman and other objects within its view. It symbolises
the troubled self of the woman, especially the woman artist who has to reject the given
masks imposed on her by the patriarchal society and see herself as an artist and an
individual.  The mirror imagery in Plath’s poetry therefore, signifies the consciousness of the
woman-speaker who verbalises the creative process of a woman artist in the domain of
male-dominated literature. The woman artist has to resist the critical and judgemental male
gaze to arrive at her own autonomous self-expression.

Mirror and Women’s Passivity:

Freedman believes that, “Plath uses mirror as a symbol of female passivity, subjection, and
Plath’s own conflicted self-identity caused by social pressures to reconcile the competing
obligations of artistic and domestic life”. The mirror represents the unfeeling male view of a
woman and what is socially expected of her: possessing an idealised beauty and ever-
lasting youth. As the persona ages over the years, the mirror cruelly reflects the changes in
her appearance. Age becomes the persona’s defect and shortcoming and thus her source
of anxiety and dismay. The mirror projects what is thought of as the woman as she grows
older. It claims to reflect the truth, and by implication, the representation of the patriarchal
perception of a woman’s existence, her worth only as a beautiful object,  and her
worthlessness when she is no longer young and beautiful. Against the male’s definition of
womanhood, which idealises beauty and youth, the persona looks inside to discover her
true self, what she was as a person, and what she has become, maturing by age. The
woman’s autonomous identity and perception of the self are, therefore in conflict with the
stereotype of the dominant male society. The tension increases as the persona is perplexed
by this identity crisis. If she chooses her inner self and her own independent definition of
identity, when looking in the mirror, she no longer sees the beautiful girl, but the terrible fish.

The Struggle of Aging:

The woman returns to the mirror – in the symbolic form of a lake – to re-examine her
appearance. She wants to know the truth that only the mirror provides. The woman realises
that she is aging, and it upsets her. “She rewards me with tears and an agitation of the
hands”. The woman understands that candles and the moon don’t offer an authentic and
realistic view of who she is – only the mirror can do that. Nonetheless, she is saddened by
the reality that she is no longer a young woman and has been replaced by an old woman.
“In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman rises toward her…” The
woman struggles with the loss of her beauty and innocence as she has aged. She is
devastated and shocked by what she sees on the mirror.

Human-like Character of the Mirror:

Plath gives the mirror human-like traits, such as a heart, even though it doesn’t offer
judgment. These traits help the reader understand why the woman is emotionally connected
to it. The mirror has looked at the opposite pink, and speckled wall a long time, that it says,
“I think it is part of my heart”. Even though the mirror is not a living, organic object, it notices
the wall opposite, the darkness and the faces that stand before it. The mirror understands
how significant it is to the woman and says, “I am important to her”. Its human-like traits give
the woman a reason for trusting in it for self-reflection – “Searching my reaches for what she
really is”.

Conclusion:

This conflict between subjective and objective realities, which reflects the persona’s internal
conflict, develops further in the poem. The mirror represents rational and objective
judgment: cold and cruel in its pronouncements. The woman is reduced to a dependent,
marginalised victim. Her expectation about the reflection of her identity is subjective and
impressionable. She is condemned to hear a dreadful death sentence as the mirror
identifies her as “a terrible fish”, not even rendering her humanity. Hence the source of
problem in this poem is the woman’s absolute reliance on the mirror’s projection of her. The
woman shows a desperate need to view herself through this reflection, which is part of the
patriarchal conditioning of society. 

Sylvia Plath | Source

Sylvia Plath and the Poem "Mirror"

"Mirror" is a short, two-stanza poem written in 1961. Sylvia Plath was living in England with her
fellow poet and husband, Ted Hughes, and she had already given birth to their first child, Frieda.

This was a stressful time for Plath. As a first-time mother, she was on the way toward fulfilling her
love for her partner, but deep inside she dreaded the idea of ever growing old and settling down.

As a teenager, she wrote in her journal:

"Somehow I have to keep and hold the rapture of being seventeen. Every day is so precious. I feel
infinitely sad at the thought of all this time melting farther and farther away from me as I grow older."

And again, later:

"I am afraid of getting older. I am afraid of getting married. Spare me from cooking three meals a
day–spare me from the relentless cage of routine and rote."

"Mirror" is an exploration of this uncertain self and was probably influenced by an earlier poem by
the poet James Merrill by the same title.

Sylvia Plath's poem has her hallmark stamp of powerful language, sharp imagery and dark
undertones. Together with unusual syntax, no obvious rhyme or meter and an astute use of
enjambment, "Mirror" is a personification poem of great depth.

"Mirror" by Sylvia Plath

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.
What Are the Literary Elements Used in "Mirror"?
"Mirror" consists of two stanzas that reflect each other, that are mirror images you could say, and
that contain no obvious end rhymes or steady beat. Noting this, we can suggest with confidence that
there is no closure, certainty or order in the stylistic choices the author has made, features that are
perhaps reflective of her emotional state.

Rhyme tends to secure the lines and anchor them in a familiar sound, but here the poet has chosen
to end each line with a different word, virtually unrelated in sound or texture. It's free verse, yet with
so many periods (end stops, full stops) and limited enjambment, that the text almost resembles
dialogue from a play.

Personification
"Mirror" is a personification poem. That is, the poet has given the mirror a first-person voice. So the
poem begins:

I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.

This is the mirror speaking. It is direct, objective and open. It has personality. This device allows the
mirror to address the reader (and any individual) at a personal level. You may know of a similar
mirror in the fairytale Sleeping Beauty, where the vain, Wicked Queen looks in to her mirror to ask,
"Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?"

In a sense, Plath is asking the same question, but she does not receive a flattering answer.

Metaphor
In the first stanza the mirror declares:

I am not cruel, only truthful,

The eye of a little god, four-cornered.

So the mirror becomes the eye of a little god, metaphorically speaking. And at the start of the second
stanza (Now I am a lake) the poet uses metaphor again, as the mirror becomes deep, reflective
water.

Simile
The final few words (like a terrible fish) constitute a simile.

Analysis of First Stanza

This poem is all about appearances and the search for the self. The fact that the mirror is the voice
and has the starring role is a little odd, but Sylvia Plath wanted to show just how powerful an object
the mirror is in people's lives.

In particular, she wanted to highlight the issue that some females have with their image, and the
inner turmoil that can be caused as the aging process picks up its pace. The poet's own struggle for
a stable identity only adds to the idea that the face in the mirror must stay young, pretty and perfect.

Lines 1-3
The opening lines introduce us to the passive rectangle of silver, the glass and the shiny surface
which only tells the truth and has no other purpose. Mirrors have no prior knowledge of anything;
they simply are.
Note the use of the verb "swallow" which suggests that the mirror has a mouth and can digest whole
images instantly, like a creature.

What Does the Poet Mean by "unmisted by love and dislike?"

The next line, too, emphasizes the savage nondiscriminatory nature of the mirror. It's as if the mirror
is saying, "To me you are food which I need to satisfy my insatiable appetite. There are no blurry
lines; love or judgement has nothing to do with it. I will swallow you. End of story."

Lines 4-6
This objective theme continues as the mirror reinforces the idea of neutrality–it simply tells the story
as it is, no fuss, no elaboration, no fabrication. And it is this quality of truthfulness which allows the
mirror to declare itself as the eye of a little god; an all seeing minor deity holding disproportionate
power over its subjects.

To strengthen its position within the room, the house, and the host's mind, it does little but "meditate
on the opposite wall." Like some open-eyed, staring sage, the mirror sits contemplatively.

Lines 7-9
The wall is pink, speckled, and is now an integral part of the mirror's heart, suggesting that this
silver-eyed god has gained a feminine side to its persona. Pink is associated with girlie things, but
the connection isn't that clear. There are uncertain faces coming between it, and the wall of pink.

Is the mirror losing its grip on its own reality? Are the ripples of time starting to affect the smooth
surface?

Analysis of Second Stanza

Whereas the first stanza concentrates on the exact truthfulness of the mirror and its ability to reflect
precisely, the second stanza sees a transition: the mirror becomes a liquid, it gains depth and a
different dimension.

Lines 10-12
With god-like, medium-shifting power, the mirror becomes a lake. In it is reflected the image of a
woman (the poet? Any woman?) and she is bending over as one would over the surface of a lake to
see the reflection in the water.

Seeing her reflection, the woman is uncertain of herself and needs to find out who she really is. But
can a person truly find out who they are by merely peering into a lake? Don't forget, this type of
water can swallow any image it comes across. Didn't Narcissus look into a similar lake, and was so
overcome with his own beauty that he fell in and drowned?

The woman isn't interested in beauty, it seems. Perhaps she's more intent on learning about her
emotional responses to her former self. Candlelight can't help her cause because it's a deceptively
romantic way of looking at things, and the moon, likewise, governs only madness and the haunting
of the blood.

The woman realizes that she can't dwell on the past.

Lines 13-15
Nevertheless, the mirror "sees her back," which is what the eye of a little god would do, and holds
the image, as always.
The woman weeps, which pleases the mirror, perhaps because the tears replenish the water in the
lake, or maybe because the mirror is happy that it has done its job of faithful reflection and feels
rewarded.

But the woman is clearly upset because the past holds such powerful memories, not all of them
positive. This part of the poem is crucial, for we discover the mirror's aim: to disturb the woman.

The deity has control of the human, which is how traditional stories often pan out.

Lines 16-18
The mirror believes it is important to the woman, and so it appears relentlessly. The woman looks at
herself in the mirror each morning, so reliant has she become.

The revelation, hardly a shock, is that the woman's younger self is dead, drowned by her own hand.
Replacing the girl on a daily basis is the face of an old woman, surfacing "like a terrible fish."

Imagine the horror of facing the mirror each morning and confronting an inner demon, which is what
the poet conveys through her poem. The innocent, romantic, crazy girl floats lifeless in the water.
And out of her there rises, from the (emotional) depths, a hagfish, a monstrosity.

Why Was the Poem "Mirror" Written?

While it is impossible to say exactly why Plath wrote "Mirror," there's no reason to believe her motive
for writing this poem was any different from that of her other poems: to express abstract emotions
and a state of mind that cannot easily be captured in prose.

While "Mirror," written in 1961, just two years before the poet's suicide, likely contains many
autobiographical elements that have to do with her difficult life, the poem has merit beyond a mere
confessional. It is a compelling work of art, and a remarkable piece of literature.

"Mirror" was not published for another 10 years after Plath's death, when it appeared in Plath's
book Crossing the Water, published by Ted Hughes posthumously.

Reading of "Mirror" by Sylvia Plath

 the mirror itself is the one speaking, and it’s quite a disturbing character.
Now, it would be very offended if you suggested it was evil. No no, it is a god,
“not cruel, only truthful.” See, a mirror doesn’t distort reality. It reflects it
back, “just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.” Love and dislike, the mirror
implies, are dishonest, and present a distorted image of reality.
The mirror doesn’t use flowery language. It uses lots of short, factual
sentences to describe what it sees. The mirror itself? “Silver and exact.” The
opposite wall? “It is pink, with speckles.” The woman? “I am important to her.
She comes and goes.”
The woman is quite different, though. She goes to the mirror every day to find
out “what she really is,” but she never seems to accept what she sees. Perhaps
the problem is the lighting. Everybody’s skin looks better by candlelight; it has
a way of minimizing defects. Or moonlight—you can’t see flaws well in
moonlight, can you? But to the mirror, the candles and the moon are liars,
hiding the features of her face that she doesn’t like. The mirror is far superior.
It alone, impartial and dispassionate, can show her the truth.
It’s hard to object to that. Can you really blame the mirror for showing the
truth, even if you don’t like it? But maybe the mirror isn’t quite as impartial
and dispassionate as it claims. Actually, it slips up once or twice, and shows its
true colors.
What about “She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands?” If the
mirror was interested in truth alone, it would take the presence of tears as
disinterestedly as it does the speckles on the wall. But it’s almost gleeful about
the tears. That’s a bit unsettling. It’s not the worst part, though. Besides its
smug, superior tone, it makes one gigantic blunder that betrays its true
character.
“Now I am a lake.” Okay, Mirror, wait a second. You’re using metaphors now?
And for an image that appears fairly innocuous, its actually has horrifying
implications.
First of all, it’s a bad comparison. The mirror has already described itself as
exact, four-cornered, and little. It has no depth at all; it just shows the outside
world on its surface. A lake is expansive, powerful, and teeming with unknown
life. And let’s not overlook the fact that people can’t breathe water.
If the mirror is a lake, then it will kill you. Your body needs oxygen, and it
won’t get that underwater. The woman, long ago as a young girl, drowned in
that lake. Now she’s being transformed somehow, bit by bit, into a creature
dependent on the lake to survive. Of course, that’s not literally what happened.
The mirror is being hypocritically inexact in its speech. But undeniably, a
change has taken place in the woman whose mirror is so important to her. She
is not one person anymore, she’s split—her own face “rises toward her day
after day, like a terrible fish.”
Whether she will become completely reliant on the mirror, or whether she will
reclaim her true self, and understand “what she really is,” is anyone’s guess,
but we know, at least, that the mirror is not as innocent as it would like you to
believe.
Twice a month, Anna O’Neil brings us a short, memorable poem and breaks
it down for us. Find more in this series at Poetry Talk
 Why Sylvia Plath’s ‘Mirror’ is
such an unsettling piece of work
Feminist Writing In Mirror
1537 words (6 pages) Essay in English Literature
 5/12/16  English Literature  Reference this
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those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of UK Essays.
Feminism is undeniably one of major themes in her poetry. The following essay will also
be discussing the feminist writing style of Sylvia Plath, specifically as presented in her
poem – “Mirror”. An ambitious woman writer, Sylvia Plath was living in an era that
defined a woman’s role in a male dominated society. She felt imprisoned in this society.
The styling that has led to the continuity of her art and its relevance to society can be
attributed to many factors and techniques common among her poetry
“Plath has been considered a deeply honest writer, whose ceaseless self-scrutiny has
given a unique point of view to psychological disorder and to the theme of the feminist-
martyr in a patriarchal society.”
“Mirror” emphasizes on a number of aspects and issues such as women go through
despair and loneliness. Freedman discusses Plath’s use of the mirror as a symbol of
female passivity, subjugation, and Plath’s own conflict self-identity caused by social
pressure to reconcile the competing obligations of artistic and domestic life.
“Mirror” narrates the interactions with a narcissist woman. However the woman is
probably Sylvia Plath herself as at the first stanza, first sentence of the poem; it states
clearly that “I am silver and exact.” Silver is the ambiguity of Sylvia. This woman also
keeps on searching her reflection whether in the mirror or the lake. The “Mirror” boasts,
“I have no preconceptions.”. The first five sentences of the first stanza are to proclaim
that the woman in the poem is always that truthful as well as faithful. It is related with
Plath’s background story. For instance, Plath could have accepted the fact of Ted
Hughes’ unfaithfulness and have blamed herself for the declining of her beauty. As a
result, she wrote “Mirror” to describe the pain of an aging woman from the liars of guys
and the feeling of a beauty-declining woman.
The “Mirror” then reports what it usually does: it reflects the “pink, with speckles” on the
“opposite wall.” (Plath, 1961) Here, Plath uses a pink colour wall to represent her young
age. Joshua also agree with this statement, where he comments about “”It is pink, with
speckles”, and a connection to a freckle-faced child is apparent, implying blemish-free
freshness and the mirrors own youth” (Newtown, 2009). Normally, green would be used
instead to represent young. Anyway, the “pink” might come from term of “pink of
health” and this colour has represented the femininity. This is justified because in the
next line ‘I have looked at it so long I think it is a part of my heart’ (Plath, 1961), it
mentions that it has gazed at that wall for a long period. It is saying that in her entire
life, she has been expected to act like a female and she has been doing it for so much so
now she thinks it must be part of her. “She is the woman as male-defined ideal or as the
ideal manqué, the woman who desires to remain forever the “young girl” (Freedman,
October,1993). The preceding lines “Faces and darkness separate us over and over.”
(Plath, 1961), has expounded the despair of loneliness and misery of her come-and-
gone relationship, which she never acquire the fruition of a soul- satisfying true love.
In the second stanza, again the woman search for her reflection from the lake. But this
time, it portrays a phenomenon where woman denies the reality about her physical
appearance. The poem says: “Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me. Searching my
reaches for what she really is.” (Plath, 1961). The woman is unhappy with her appearance
and evades from it as she could not accept the reflected appearance of her. It is further
explained where it says:” Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.” (Plath,
1961). She keeps herself away from truth of the reflection but preferred to believe the
sweet talks and the praises of the moon or candles. In this case, moon or candles might
refer as those people who deceive her, praising how gorgeous she is, but in fact she is
no longer. However, she is still enjoyed living in those liars or should say she choose to
believe those lies. Here arise another feminist issue, which is woman always chooses to
accept what is fake but as long as it is worth to believe, rather than to face the reality,
the truth or the facts. Just like Sylvia Plath, she refuses the fact that in her time where
women were still need to do those traditional roles which were cook, clean, and care.
Eventually, she has caused too much stress and tensions in the fighting of her rights,
and eventually she committed suicide in 1963.
Anyhow, the woman is always being reflected “faithfully” for which the lake would
expect gratitude. However, it is often rewarded with “tears and an agitation of hands”
(Plath, 1961). This clearly shows how reluctant, dissatisfy and helpless for a woman to
accept the faithful report, yet the mirror or lake is still very important to her. “Mirror”
discusses the importance of itself in a woman’s life. In “Mirror” for instance, we find a
poem of two stanzas where the entire second stanza preoccupies itself with a woman
and her relationship to her mirror, which we come to see is really the woman’s
relationship to the view of herself.(SAT, 2008) Freedman stated that for many women
writers, the search in the mirror is ultimately a search for the self, often for the self as
artist (Freedman, October,1993). “I am important to her. She come and goes.” (Plath,
1961), this sentence shows that Plath was always looking into the mirror to search for
herself. She struggled from an identity crisis of sorts and while gazing the reflection in
the mirror, it could have to deal with her searching for herself. Another point of view will
be: the woman indulges herself with hope that she wishes to see herself to appear
young and beauty again in front of mirror or lake, that why she keeps on “coming and
going”. However she has disappointed again and again. It clarifies that women do care
about their appearance a lot. Joshua also agreed with this statement, where he wrote
“The mirror is important to the woman, and yet recognizes that she comes and goes as
she pleases” (Newtown, 2009).
This idea is further explained when darkness invade into the woman’s life. “Each
morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.” (Plath, 1961). As mentioned above, the
darkness represents the depressions, the loneliness. As day passes, her youth declines
and the figure of her age increase. The woman is despair and unhappy with her life. This
is because she has no one to love her and her life is at the end point where she realizes
her youth is passed and yet she got nothing but a failure marriage. In short, the idea
here is the feeling of a woman with a series of unsuccessful love who had poured in so
much time; so much hope but eventually never obtains a fair output whereby she also
lost her beauty. It is rather a complicated feeling for a woman when she could not get
justified with her efforts in maintaining the relationship.
The idea is explored further in the last two lines, where it says, “In me she has drowned a
young girl, and in me an old woman / Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish”
(“Mirror” 633). The woman in the poem is no longer a young, beautiful woman; she is
aging, and in the woman’s eyes that is a “terrible” thing. (SAT, 2008) The woman in the
mirror is no doubt ageing and it is believed that the mirror has accompanied her since
young age, observing her growth, and reflecting her withers and languishes to an old
one. The last line which describes the woman: “rise towards her day after day like a
terrible fish” (Plath, 1961) could hint to the woman is very anxious as she is now like a
terrible fish. A terrible fish could be further explained as a woman who has lost her value
and no one will concern about her just like a dead fish and the feeling is pretty terrible.
The phrase “like a terrible fish” further enhances the idea of rebellion. Women’s psyche
does not merely deal in fairness and beauty; it will be “terrible” when their rights are
trampled with no consideration.
In conclusion, Sylvia Plath started her feminist writing because, in her time, the society
treated women as objects as if they had no mind. Besides, she was very oppressed by
men or more specify her husband. With this “Mirror” she reflected her despair feeling,
the unfairness of the society where women were always dominated by men and also
grieves with her declining beauty. With her unique literary style, she often has the
themes of feminist criticism in her poetry and “Mirror” is no exception to the body of her
work that remains a relevant part of our literary heritage today. (SAT, 2008)
What do the four corners of the mirror Symbolise?
The expression 'eye of the little god, four cornered' means the mirror compares itself to
a god. ... So, he is like the eye of a little god. Four-cornered suggests equality for all
without any preconception about anyone or anything. Sep 17, 2014

Why is the mirror compared to a lake?

Answer: The mirror is compared to a lake. This comparison is made because when a
person looks into a mirror or a lake, the memories of life flash across his or her mind as
both the mirror and the lake reflect the true identity of the person. Both seem to be
deep and reflect images truthfully without any bias. Oct 5, 2013

hy is the mirror important to the woman?

why is the mirror important to the woman? The mirror is important to the
woman because it reflects the truth so first when the woman was young and beautiful
she liked seeing and admiring herself. But now the woman is old and has wrinkles on
her face so now when the mirror reflects her image she is agitated.Apr 24, 2011
What is the meaning of Unmisted?
unmisted rate. (Adjective) not cloudy, able to see clearly. Usage: the mirror shows your
image unmisted. unmisted rate. (Adjective) clearly, not cloudy or unable to see.
Why do you think Plath switched the perspective from a mirror to a lake?
Plath switched the perspective from mirror to lake because a mirror has limited
space whereas a lake is larger. It can reflect a much wider platform and show
emotions Plath wants to show that it reflects her whole life and has seen her become
old and so she has used the lake as a device.

Why is the old woman like a terrible fish?

Why does "she" behave like a terrible fish? She (the woman) behaves like a terrible
fish which is out of water because she still imagines herself to be young and beautiful
and cannot accept the fact that one grows old with the passage of time. She still has
romantic ideas about her youth and beauty

What do the four corners of the mirror Symbolise?

The expression 'eye of the little god, four cornered' means the mirror compares itself to
a god. ... So, he is like the eye of a little god. Four-cornered suggests equality for all
without any preconception about anyone or anything.

What is the meaning of the poem mirror?

In this poem, a mirror describes its existence and its owner, who grows older as
the mirror watches. The mirror first describes itself as “silver and exact.” It forms no
judgments, instead merely swallowing what it sees and reflecting that image back
without any alteration.Aug 30, 2019