Summary of Mirror by Sylvia Plath
Answers
Summary of 'Mirror' by Sylvia Plath
This poem is a sad poem and reflects the poet's despair and melancholy. The narrator in this poem is a mirror.
The mirror says it is silver in color and reflects back truly whatever stands in front of it. It says it neither likes anyone nor dislikes anyone.
The mirror says it is not cruel. It is only truthful. It is like the eye of a god, who treats everyone equally.
The mirror looks at the opposite pink wall most of the time. It thinks it is a part of his existence.
The only time it can not look at the wall is when people stand in front of it or when it is dark.
The mirror says it is like a lake also. It says a woman is bending over it to see her reflection, expecting she is as beautiful as she used to be.
Her true reflection in the mirror upsets her. Then in the dark she sees herself in the mirror in the light of the moon and candles. This may give her temporary relief from facing the reality.
Every morning the first thing that the woman does is, she goes to the mirror to see her reflection.
The mirror says that the woman is upset over her growing age and loss of youth and beauty. Every day the old age like a terrible fish is surfacing.
Answer:
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. The mirror is not cruel, “only truthful.” It considers itself a four-cornered eye of a god, which sees everything for what it is.
Most of the time, the mirror looks across the empty room and meditates on the pink speckled wall across from it. It has looked at that wall for so long that it describes the wall as “part of my heart.” The image of the wall is interrupted only by people who enter to look at themselves and the darkness that comes with night.
The mirror imagines itself as a lake. A woman looks into it, trying to discern who she really is by gazing at her reflection. Sometimes, the woman prefers to look at herself in candlelight or moonlight, but these are “liars” because they mask her true appearance. Only the mirror (existing here as lake) gives her a faithful representation of herself.
Because of this honesty, the woman cries and wrings her hands. Nevertheless, she cannot refrain from visiting the mirror over and over again, every morning. Over the years, the woman has “drowned a young girl” in the mirror, and now sees in her reflection an old woman growing older by the day. This old woman rises toward her out of the mirror like “a terrible fish.”
Analysis
In this short but beloved poem, the narrator is a wall mirror in what is likely a woman's bedroom. The mirror is personified - that is, it is endowed with human traits. It is able to recognize monotony, commenting on the regularity of the wall that it reflects most of the time. Further, while it does not offer moral judgment, it is able to observe and understand its owner (the woman) as she grapples with the reality of aging.