Mirror
Sylvia Plathe has intelligetly combained both realism and fancy in her poem "Mirror". This poem speaks about itself in a confessional tone. Written in the first poem narrative, Mirror is the speaker. The poem provides the clinical portrayal of mirror. The poet has personified mirror as a male. Accordingly he is exact and has no preoccupations. He is noted for his objective reflections of persons and objects. He is at a fixed place and most of the time he medidates on the wall which is opposite to it.
Mirror confesses that he has almost fallen in love with the wall owing to his long and prolong observation. Occasionally human faces and the darkness of nights separate the mirror and the wall.
In the second half of the poem the mirror comments upon a young women's bending over him and scrutinising her face very deeply. Perhaps she is not happy about her image in the mirror. So she turns to the deceptive objects like the moon and the candle. Soon she becomes miserable and she to the mirror, once again. She sheds tears on the mirror sorrowfully. Thre is anxiety in her face and agitation in her hands. She considers the mirror as a very important one in her life.
The mirror on the other hand is unaffected and he continues to absorb the girl both in her youth and old age. The women is the first to look for her face, in the mirror every morning. Each morning her face replaces the darkness in front of the mirror. The obviuos truth about young women studying her face in the mirror is her worry about her growing old and losting her youth and beauty. Thre fearful thoughts frighten her like a terrible fish.
The poem talks about the unique characteristics of both mirror and women. Thought the mirror claims to be objective is susceptible to the beauty of the women in the poem.
The remarks of the poem "Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness" refers to the emotional or the human side of the mirror. The poem subtly points out that women are obssessed with fear of lod age and ugliness.
The male ego is expressed by the mirror in these words. " I am the only eye of God; Four Corners". Symbols like the wall, darkness, the moon, the candle and fish have been efectively used by Sylvia Plathe. The mirror itself is a powerful symbol in the poem.
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