Mirror Sylvia Plath

Introduction The poem Mirror by Sylvia plath is a very personal and sad portrayal of the world from a pessimistic perspective of the ageing process, described by a mirror with certain human features created by personification. The poem illustrates big references of religion and feminism throughout. The poem although a personal tale also distances itself from us, while the tale is told by a mirror it feels like its someone's own story. This household object which has no human quality’s becomes a very good storyteller to us as its sincerity and frankness come out to bring personal feelings of the people it sees day after day in the mirror over a certain amount of time. This incite of peoples personal problems and vulnerability are easily exposed by the mirror to create a naturalist and valid points of life.

Silver And Exact "I am silver and exact." It is interesting that the backing of the Mirror, the metal silver, is an element most often associated with the Moon, which is also regarded as a feminist symbol according to astrologists . The 28 day cycle of the moon orbiting the earth as many feminist astrologers believe that this cycle of the moon as well as controlling the tides and the weather also controls women's menstruation cycles. This evidence of this includes the ageing of the women explained by the mirror as the poem unfolds is a reference to ageing of a bygone era. (‘ I meditate on the opposite wall it is pink with speckles. I have looked at it for so long’)

Terrible Fish Plaths reference to a ‘Terrible Fish’ references to a number of issues such as religion being one of them to the point that the original symbol of Christianity was the fish (Ichthys Greek word for Fish) In English it refers to a symbol consisting of two intersecting arcs, the ends of the right side extending beyond the meeting point so as to resemble the profile of a fish, said to have been used by early Christians as a secret symbol and now known colloquially as the "sign of the fish" or the "Jesus fish." Plath’s reference to religion at the end of the poem is very depressing yet a fitting end, referring to the fish as the end in terms of crucifixion or sacrifice this could also link into psychoanalytical thoughts of plath which lead to her death from suicide later on in her life.

Mirror 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 the 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.

Subtext You feel that when reading " the mirror’’ symbolizes Sylvia's consciousness after her marriage to Ted Hughes, she as a mirror has accepted "pink an speckled wall which maybe describes Ted Hughes“ face/ complexion. She had no preconceptions about him. She accepted him the way he is and reflected his faults back at him without prejudice, only problems" darkness" would ever once in a while separate them. but she knew she was right , describing herself as" the little god". She has been with her husband known him for so long that he has become a nature...a part of her just like the reflected image of the wall becomes a part of the mirror. The poem is a very melancholy and interesting look into the personal matters of Ted Hughes relationship with Sylvia Plath. From reading it you can get a real feeling of how she felt. The words that most spring to mind are Unsure, Lost and distorted. We find references of this in the poem as almost she is seeing her life from a different perspective and the power struggles she suffers in her life, possibly domestic violence I see her back, and reflect it faithfully. She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.. Its almost a ‘What could have been’ scenario. Unsure of what path to take in her life at this moment in time when it was written. This also links back to my first thoughts of psychoanalytical writing.