Mirror is a free verse written by the American poet Sylvia Plath.

1. Sylvia Plath
Mirror

2. CONTANTS
Introduction The author Form Images Analysis Summary Conclusion

3. Introduction

4. Introduction
Mirror is a free verse written by the American poet Sylvia Plath. The
poem is written from the perspectives of two entities: a mirror and a
lake, and the piece stands for the ideas of honesty, truth, and neutrality.
Sylvia Plath chooses a simple everyday object, ‘a mirror’ in her poem
and puts perspective to it by assuming its voice and expressing things
one would barely think of. By using a mirror as the speaker of the
poem, she explores the life of a woman as she grows old from an
outward perspective. Mirror is a truly unusual and unique piece as it
attempts to present truth about the self, unhindered even by personal
conceptions.

5. The author

6. The author
Sylvia Plath was a famous poet of the 1950’s and 60’s. She was
unfortunately riddled with mental agony which is often reflected in her
poetry. She was one of the pioneers in the genre of self-exploration and
self-discovery. The poetess suffered from clinical depression and attempted
suicide several times, succeeding in 1963 at the age of 30. It is unclear
when this poem was written, but it is alleged that it was around 1961, at a
time when the poet had undergone much emotional turmoil and had also
produced a number of works including her only novel ‘The Bell Jar.’ The
poem was published in 1971 as a part of the anthology ‘Crossing the
Water.

7. The author
Famous Works

8. Form

9. Form
The poem "Mirror" by Sylvia Plath is written in free verse. This means
that it does not follow a fixed metrical pattern, but rather that the
rhythm of the lines is meant to project the emotions the poet intends to
evoke in the reader.
The poem is separated into two stanzas, each consisting of nine lines.
The lines range from eight to fifteen syllables long, but they are not
grouped into feet as would be the case in an accentual-syllabic poem
and there is no regular system of line lengths as is syllabic poetry. The
lines are usually end-stopped, meaning that the ends of lines coincide
with syntactic units, usually ends of clauses or sentences, rather than
syntactic units being split by line breaks.

10. Images

11. images
The Mirror:
Plath introduces the mirror but not as an inanimate object but as a being
with its own thoughts and feelings. The poet personifies her mirror in order
to stress the obsession with image, and inevitable loss of youth.
Water:
It provides the same reflective qualities as the mirror, but also suggests
depth, coldness, and describes a deeply unsettling and surreal scene of a
young girl, symbolic of youth, drowning as an old woman .

12. images
Color, Light, and Darkness:
In talking about mirrors, the sense of sight is pretty important. From silver to
pink to moonlight, this poem uses colors and light to give the reader images
as they read about a mirror.
Reflections:
In a poem about a mirror, we can expect a lot of reflections. Plath only uses
the word "reflect" once, though. Instead of just repeating this word again and
again, she uses personification and metaphor to get her point across. The
emphasis on reflections in this poem shows the importance of appearance to
the woman in the poem, and, perhaps, to women in general.

13. Analysis

14. analysis
First Stanza
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.

15. analysis
First Stanza
In the opening line of the poem, the mirror proclaims “I am silver and exact
have no preconceptions" Throughout the entire poem, personification is the
most prominent element, While the outside worked is critical, judgmental ,
and harsh, the mirror points out that it is always and "only truthful" It
accepts both things and people for what they are without trying to change
them. The mirror is "the eye of a little god “ at the wall for so Long opposite
of it has become “Part of my heart “ the only thing that separates the mirror
from the wall are the ”Face and darkness, “ that pass by and “ flickers

16. analysis
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.
Second Stanza

17. analysis
Next we see the lake as a mirror. A woman is shown looking at
her reflection in the lake. Finding it disagreeable she turns away in
sadness. The lake, being a kind of mirror, is truthful as well. It
shows the woman exactly as she is, which is disagreeable to her.
This blunt honesty of the lake-mirror and her own unpleasant
state is the reason for her sadness. The woman is becoming old
now, but she used to be young and beautiful once. She mourns the
loss of her youth and beauty every time she sees her reflection in
the lake. Thus, the idea of ‘truth causing agony’ is explored in the
poem and is the central idea or theme.
Second Stanza

18. Summary

19. SUMMARY
The poem is told from the perspective of a mirror, who starts by describing
itself physically as silver-colored and precise. The mirror insists it has no
predetermined notions or assumptions about anything, and instead 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, but simply
honest. It's like a small god's eye, only with four corners. For the most part,
the mirror focuses on the pink, speckled wall that stands across from it. The
mirror has been staring at this wall for so long that it thinks the wall is in
fact an essential part of itself. At the same time, that wall goes in and out of
focus as people and darkness pass in front of it—and into the mirror's line
of sight—again and again.

20. SUMMARY
The mirror becomes the reflective surface of a lake over which a woman
leans, looking intently into the water's depths for some hint of who she is
inside. Not finding it, she directs her attention to the candle she holds or the
moon—sources of light that she thinks must be lying to her by not showing
her who she really is. The mirror watches the woman's back as she walks
away, and reflects it accurately. The woman thanks the mirror by crying and
wringing her hands in distress. The mirror knows that it matters a lot to this
woman, who comes back to look into it time and again. Every day starts with
the woman's face taking the place of the darkness that the mirror reflected all
night. The young girl she once was will never look back at her again, having
been metaphorically drowned in the mirror. Instead, as the days go by she sees
only the old woman.

21. Speakers

22. THANK YOU
Designed by : Shatha Rashed