Sylvia Plath made an important contribution to contemporary English poetry through her confessional (to admit bad things) style of writing. It is both a personal and poetic tragedy that she took her own life at such a precious young age. Although much of her poetry is quite pessimistic, it is very powerful and attractive. Take a new approach to reading and understanding poetry in Plath’s poem, Mirror. This activity focuses on the skill of asking important questions, rather than directly explaining what the poem means.
Mirror by Sylvia Plath (1932-1963)
1. I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
2. Whatever I see I swallow immediately
3. Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.
4. I am not cruel, only truthful -
5. The eye of a little god, four-cornered.
6. Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.
7. It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long
8. I think it is part of my heart. But it flickers.
9. Faces and darkness separate us over and over.
10. Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me,
11. Searching my reaches for what she really is.
12. Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.
13. I see her back, and reflect it faithfully.
14. She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.
15. I am important to her. She comes and goes.
16. Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.
17. In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman
18. Rises towards her day after day, like a terrible fish.
Questions, questions, questions
Many people read a poem and expect to understand it right away, as you when you read a newspaper article or a story. Poetry is a very different style of writing, so it requires different techniques for reading it. By questioning the poem, we interact and experience it more thoroughly. To do this, we need to be more specific than, “What does it mean?”
Although you may not reach logical understanding, practice interpreting the poem by asking it challenging questions. In poetry, experiencing the poem often takes priority over understanding. Practice looking at poetry in this way and revise your reading technique as necessary.
Stanza One
Who is speaking in line 1? Is it the mirror or the poet? What is a preconception? Is it related to the root word “concept”? How can a mirror swallow something (line 2)? Is this literal or metaphorical language?
In what way can a mirror be cruel (line 4)? Does this mean being cruel to the person looking in the mirror? How can a mirror be a god (line 5)? Does it mean that the mirror knows everything? In lines 6 to 8, does the mirror no longer know the difference between the wall and itself?
Stanza Two
Who is speaking in line 10? The poet? The mirror? Somebody else? Is “reaches” in line 11 a verb? Why is it used as a noun in this line? In line 12, how can “candles or the moon” tell a lie? Is this a comparison to insincere people?
Why is the woman turned around in line 13? Is this because she turned around to look up at the moon? Does “agitation of hands” (line 14) mean she is angry, or excited? Is “she comes and goes,” (line 15) related to the idea of being separated “over and over” in the first stanza?
Does line 16 mean the woman looks into the lake every morning? Is the lake happy to see her face? Does line 17 literally mean, “drowned”? What is the symbolic meaning of being drowned? Could it be death? Could it mean loss? Who is the old woman in line 17? Is it the same person mentioned earlier in the poem?
How is an old woman like a “terrible fish” (line 18)? Why is this comparison so negative? What’s her conclusion?
Is there a conclusion?
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Experiencing a poem often takes priority over understanding a poem. |
In most reading, you may expect a conclusion that tells you the final answer. In poetry, can you accept that there may be no conclusion at all? Can you be satisfied by simply questioning and wondering, or do you require a final explanation? Review the poetic questions and see how many you can answer for yourself. Also see how many more questions you can ask. With repeated readings, you should be able experience the answers for yourself.
Wondering or Knowing?
Are you still struggling to understand the poem? It may be helpful to go look in the mirror at your home and reflect on it carefully. Consider what the poem sees, thinks and feels all day long. If you do this, then you visually and personally experience the point of the poem. If not, you may remain limited by your need for logical knowledge.