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    Literature Analysis

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    kady
    The poem "Mirror" by Sylvia Plath explores the poet's fear of aging through the perspective of a mirror. The mirror reflects whatever is in front of it without judgment, honestly showing a woman's reflection as she ages. Over time, the young girl she once knew is no longer reflected back, and an elderly woman appears instead. This causes the woman pain and insecurity about growing old. Both "Mirror" and the poem "Little Boy Crying" depict characters feeling pain - the woman from watching herself age and the boy from his father hitting him. Plath uses allusions like comparing the woman to Narcissus to show how powerful mirrors are and help readers understand the deeper meanings.

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    Literature Analysis

    Uploaded by

    kady
    14 views2 pages
    The poem "Mirror" by Sylvia Plath explores the poet's fear of aging through the perspective of a mirror. The mirror reflects whatever is in front of it without judgment, honestly showing a woman's reflection as she ages. Over time, the young girl she once knew is no longer reflected back, and an elderly woman appears instead. This causes the woman pain and insecurity about growing old. Both "Mirror" and the poem "Little Boy Crying" depict characters feeling pain - the woman from watching herself age and the boy from his father hitting him. Plath uses allusions like comparing the woman to Narcissus to show how powerful mirrors are and help readers understand the deeper meanings.

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    Literature analysis

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    The poem "Mirror" by Sylvia Plath explores the poet's fear of aging through the perspective of a mirror. The mirror reflects whatever is in front of it without judgment, honestly showing a woman's reflection as she ages. Over time, the young girl she once knew is no longer reflected back, and an elderly woman appears instead. This causes the woman pain and insecurity about growing old. Both "Mirror" and the poem "Little Boy Crying" depict characters feeling pain - the woman from watching herself age and the boy from his father hitting him. Plath uses allusions like comparing the woman to Narcissus to show how powerful mirrors are and help readers understand the deeper meanings.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    14 views2 pages

    Literature Analysis

    Uploaded by

    kady
    The poem "Mirror" by Sylvia Plath explores the poet's fear of aging through the perspective of a mirror. The mirror reflects whatever is in front of it without judgment, honestly showing a woman's reflection as she ages. Over time, the young girl she once knew is no longer reflected back, and an elderly woman appears instead. This causes the woman pain and insecurity about growing old. Both "Mirror" and the poem "Little Boy Crying" depict characters feeling pain - the woman from watching herself age and the boy from his father hitting him. Plath uses allusions like comparing the woman to Narcissus to show how powerful mirrors are and help readers understand the deeper meanings.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    In the poem Mirror, it explores Slyvia Plath’s own fear of aging.

    It was written
    from the first point of view of the mirror. The poem is about how the mirror has no
    predetermined notions or assumptions about anything, but simply takes in
    whatever stands in front of it right away, exactly the way it is, unclouded by any
    feelings. The mirror isn't mean or harsh, only honest. Throughout the day the
    mirror reflects whatever comes in front of it, a pink wall is mostly seen by the
    mirror every day that the mirror considers the wall to be a part of itself. A woman
    leans on the mirrored surface of a lake, searching closely into the water's depths for
    some hint of who she is inside. When she can't find it, she turns her attention to the
    candle she's holding or the moonlight sources she believes are deceiving her by not
    revealing who she truly is. As the woman walks away, the mirror monitors her
    back and correctly reflects it. The woman expresses her gratitude to the reflection
    by crying and wringing her hands in pain. The mirror is well aware that it is
    important to this woman, who returns to look into it on a regular basis, the young
    girl the woman once knew no longer looks back at her, she’s has now gone
    insecure as the days go by she only notices the elderly lady she has become which
    she considers to be an awful fish approaching her.

    The poem Little Boy Crying is how a father has slapped his three-year-old son for
    playing in the rain. The little boy feels somewhat betrayed by his father, and finds
    no sign of remorse in him. The father regrets the method he has used to deal with
    his child. It is also clear that the boy can feel this regret, however this does nothing
    to make him feel better because of the hatred and anger he feels. The poem uses
    allusions such as “the ogre towers above you, that grim giant”, to give the readers
    an idea of how the boy is currently viewing his father or how he perceives him.
    This helps us as viewers to really understand the mentality of the boy and how he
    is currently feeling. The poem is an exploration of the complicated characteristics
    of a father-son relationship defined by love, bitterness, and regret.

    In both poems Little Boy Crying and Mirror, they both have characters feeling
    pain. The boy felt pain due to his father hitting him and the woman felt pain
    watching herself grow old each time she looked at a mirror.
    “Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me.” mythological allusion to Narcissus.
    He was a beautiful man that fell in love with his beauty and drowned while staring
    into his own reflection in a pool of water. Sylvia Plath wanted to show just how
    powerful an object the mirror is in people's lives. Using allusions helps the reader
    to get a deeper meaning to the poem by referring to another piece of work that they
    are most likely familiar with.

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