The Mirror

Sylvia Plath


About Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath was an American poet, novelist and short story writer. She was credited with writing confessional poetry, advance of her genre. She was born on 27th October, 1932 in Jamaican Plain, Boston, US. She died on 11th February, 1963 at UK. 

Her famous poems were 'Daddy', 'Tulips', 'Mad Girl's Love Song', 'Ariel' and many others. She received 'Pulitzer Prize' for poetry in 1982 and before that she won 'Glascock Prize' in 1955. 

She married poet Ted Hughes in 1956. Her father was a professor of Biology and her mother Aurilia was a homemaker. 

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.
Inn me she drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman
Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.

Summary
Introduction Mirror is a short poem of 18 lines written by Sylvia Plath The poem is a beautiful example of personification Mirror assumes the personality of a living human being and becomes the speaker itself in the poem It tells all the reactions of the woman who looks into it sees swallows meditates thinks and is like a lake Summary Line 1 to 3 The mirror says that it is silver in colour and shows whatever it sees exactly It has no pre thoughts and whaterver it sees it gulps immediately It is not affected by love or dislike Line 4 to 7 Mirror says that as it shows exact thing it is only ...

Available Answers

  1. 1.

    Does the mirror truly 'no preconceptions'? justify your answer.

  2. 2.

    Why would some people consider the mirror to be cruel?

  3. 3.

    What becomes a part of the mirror's heart and why?

  4. 4.

    Explain what is meant by 'it flickers'.

  5. 5.

    Describe the women's relationship with the mirror.

  6. 6.

    Explain the image of the 'terrible fish'.

4 more answer(s) available.

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