Poetry Project

The speaker, Audrey McDonald, reflects on the poem "Mirror" by Sylvia Plath. She finds the poem intriguing because it questions the correlation between physical and inner beauty. The mirror is portrayed as having its own identity and being truthful. However, it also suggests that the truth the mirror shows may not be the complete truth about a person. The poem explores themes of self-reflection, time passing, and the complexity of identity. The last two lines symbolize the passage of time and the constant reflection of life. Hi, my name is Audrey McDonald, and sometimes when I wake up and look in the mirror in the morning, I look completely different than I did the day before, even though I may not feel any different. This gets me thinking. What if what we see in the mirror isn't actually the truth? What if our physical self isn't connected to our internal emotional self as much as we think it is? That is what draws me to the poem Mirror by Sylvia Plath. Mirror by Sylvia Plath. I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions. Whatever I see, I swallow immediately, just as it is, unmistaken 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. Faith 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 those liars to 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 is drowned young girl. And in me, an old woman rises toward her, day after day, like a terrible fish. One thing that really drew me to this poem is its way of speaking in the first stanza. It is very logical, almost like a riddle. It gives a sense of familiarity that everyone can relate to. Also, we see that the mirror, it has its own identity. Its own identity is from the point of view of the mirror. Using words like I, me, and my. We kind of come to trust the mirror as it is not cruel, only truthful. And when the woman in the second stanza turns away, the mirror sees her back. And even though the woman isn't looking, it still reflects her reflection faithfully. And this gives us a sort of trust to the mirror. But we also have to keep in mind that the truth that the mirror shows us might also be different than other types of truth. Sure, the mirror could be true. But there's also the idea that there's also truth in what is not physical about someone. Such was the woman where she says she searches my reaches for what she really is. She will not find answers, most likely within this reflection she keeps on looking at herself. But it's the closest thing she can get to looking at who she is on the inside. But it is also obvious that those two don't correlate. And it also says the mirror is admitted by love or dislike. It doesn't matter how you view yourself or how anyone else views you. To a mirror, you will always look the same. And that may or may not mirror how you are on the inside. I love how this poem invites us to just really question the correlation between physical beauty and inner beauty. And I also love about this poem the beauty and simplicity of some of the lines. When it says, faces and darkness separate us over and over. It's such a beautiful image. You think of a mirror, usually facing a wall. And it's just so weird to think of it as being separated from something. It goes back to the riddle thing again. And it says, most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall. The word meditate seems so peaceful. It's like the mirror is at peace with itself. So there's almost also this contrast. The mirror knows who it is in at least the first stanza. And in the second stanza, it changes completely, saying, now I am a lake. They're both different types of reflections, but they're not exactly the same. And in the second stanza, it's less of this riddle-telling thing that we've come to see and more of a storytelling. Lastly, I want to look at the last two lines. To me, they seem very different from the rest of the poem. They say, in me, she is drowned young girl. And in me, an old woman rises towards her day after day like a terrible fish. And I think this is such a cool idea that she's been drawn to this lake for so long that she is now grown up and will soon be an old woman. It just shows the passing of time and the storytelling. And the last line especially, it rises towards her. It also shows, just like the mirror will always reflect what's there, time will also keep on going, reflecting. I see, I swallow immediately, just as it is, unmistaken by love or dislike. I'm 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. Face 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 those liars to 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.