Mirror

Travis Fritel

11/27/12

Literary analysis

Comp.110

Silver

It is watching us, right now, tomorrow, maybe even at night. After reading the poem “Mirror” by Sylvia Plath four or five times I realized how good it really is. Plath makes the reader think in order for them to be able to fully comprehend all of the aspects of to poem. She makes the whole poem a mystery, although the title gives it away, we must think about who or what is actually talking. The main aspects that I caught in this poem are the play on words, the personification and metaphors, and the descriptions.

The very first time that this poem is read, the reader most likely will assume that it is a person speaking. Plath does a great job of keeping it a mystery, and until the reader is told the title of this poem, they may never guess the correct meaning of this poem. Plath also personifies the mirror so much to the point that the reader can’t believe that she is actually talking about a mirror. She says, “I am silver and exact.” In the very first line when she says this, I interpret it as the saying, “What you see is what you get.”A mirror is not what we might want to see, but it is what is real and a mirror is not going to lie and make us look any different. This poem also gives us another view, and opens our eyes and makes us thinks about how much a mirror actually sees.

In this poem Plath uses many personifications to describe the mirror and what it sees. She says, “I am not cruel, only truthful---.” No matter what we see in the mirror, it is not the mirror’s fault; it is doing its job. The poem also has many metaphors in it. Plath writes of the mirror, “Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me.” Obviously the mirror is not a lake, but like a lake would, the woman’s reflection is glaring back at her. She also talks about how a young girl has grown old and how the mirror has always been there and has seen her change every day “In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman.”...