Sylvia Plaths Poem Mirror - 1978 Words

Mirror In today’s day and age, it seems that some would do anything to erase a crease in their forehead, or a crinkle on the outskirts of an eye. Because time is something that we can never get back, growing older is an idea that many try to deny, especially in today’s society. Told from a mirror’s point of view, the mirror in the poem witnesses the truth of what it means to age. Sylvia Plath’s poem, Mirror, is a poem that deals with the truths and lies in the struggle a woman goes through when grasping the reality of aging. The poem is appealing due to the ways in which Plath successfully uses personification, figurative language, and diction in her writing to emphasize this idea, as well how the concept of keeping up appearances and†¦show more content†¦As the woman has aged, she no longer likes what she sees in the reflection of the mirror, and although it is the cruel reality of life, Plath’s metaphor of a mirror being a lake can be appreciate d because to look inside one’s soul is of essence in deciphering who one is. Another metaphor that can be found in the poem starts on line 12 when the mirror states, â€Å"Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon† (12). This use of figurative language of the poem addresses how growing old can be disguised for some time. The light that surrounds both candles and the moon is typically either dim or completely dark. Shedding light upon a subject means to shed light upon the truth and to see everything for what it truly is. If one chooses to stay in the dark, one objects him or her self to be sheltered from reality, just as the elderly woman shelters herself from the reality of aging. This metaphor can be appreciated because here again, Plath’s poem relates to today’s culture. Women especially seem to fear growing old. In order to counteract any signs of aging, many women turn to anti aging creams, or even the occasional (or not so occasional in some cases) Botox injection. Just like the liars, the candle and the moon, these rem edies only trick women into thinking they’ve defeated time itself and are still able to grasp onto their youthful appearance. Plath’s comparison of candle and moonlight to liars is genius. TheShow MoreRelatedPoetry Explication of Sylvia Plath’s â€Å"Mirror†949 Words   |  4 PagesPoetry Explication of Sylvia Plath’s â€Å"Mirror† The first thing one can notice in Sylvia Plath’s poem â€Å"Mirror† (rpt. In Thomas R. Arp and Greg Johnson, Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, 9th ed. [Boston: Wadsworth, 2006] 680) is that the speaker in the poem is the mirror and the woman in the poem is Sylvia Plath. As you read through the poem, the lake is relevant because of the famous mythological story of narcissus. He was extremely beautiful and one day while drinking from a lakeRead MoreA Reflection in Sylvia Plaths Mirror1013 Words   |  5 PagesA Reflection in Sylvia Plath’s Mirror Amanda L. Wilson Eng:125 Introduction to Literature Professor Lyndsey Lefebvre November 18, 2013 A Reflection in Sylvia Plath’s Mirror Sylvia Plath’s poem Mirror (1963) is evocative, provocative, and expressive. According to Clugston (2010) these are important components of poetry. Sylvia Plath’s first line is a projection of the mirror providing its introduction saying, â€Å"I am silver and exact†(Plath, 1963, line 1). 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Suicide is what makes people feelRead MoreMirrors by Sylvia Plath967 Words   |  4 Pages13th March, 2014 In the poem â€Å"Mirrors†, by Sylvia Plath the speaker accentuates the importance of looks as an aging woman brawls with her inner and outward appearance. Employing an instance of self refection, the speaker shifts to a lake and describes the discrepancies between inevitable old age and zealous youth. By means of sight and personification, shifts and metaphors, the orator initiates the change in appearance which relies on an individual’s decision to embrace and reject it. Read MoreLiterary Analysis Of Sylvia Plaths Mirror1075 Words   |  5 Pagesto talk about in public and shows how much a situations can impact you. These events create emotions into art. Sylvia Plath’s story and motive to write poems begins around the same time her father passes, an event that will impact her poetry deeply. A little after Plath’s eighth birthday her father dies from a case of diabetes that he ignores to treat. Plath published one of her first poems at the early age of eight in the children’s section of the Boston Herald. Later, in 1950, she is accepted byRead MoreAnalysis of Sylvia Plaths Mirror1281 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿Analysis of Sylvia Plath’s â€Å"Mirror† Sylvia Plath is known as the poet of confession. Her life is strongly connected to her works. She uses poetry as a way to confess her feelings, to express and release her pain in life. â€Å"Mirror† is one of her most famous poems. Sylvia Plath wrote the poem in 1961, just two years before her actual suicide. After suffering a miscarriage, she realized that she was pregnant again. She and her husband moved to a small town and their marriage began going worse. The poem is notRead More##xiety In Courage, Gwendolyn BrooksThe Explorer, And Frederick Douglass732 Words   |  3 PagesAll poetry has a different theme that it focuses on, or does it? In these four poems, there is a strong sense of social anxiety, and then the overcoming of that with courage. In Sylvia Plaths Mirror, Anne Sexton’s Courage, Gwendolyn Brooks’ The Explorer, and Robert Hayden’s Frederick Douglass there is a strongly shared theme. To start off is the theme of social anxiety in Sylvia Plath’s Mirror. This poem is about a mirror that spends most of it’s days reflecting the wall, but occasionally, it is theRead MoreBiography of Sylvia Plath942 Words   |  4 Pagestwentieth century, Sylvia Plath was highly esteemed by fans and fellow writers alike. Sylvia Plath’s parents, Aurelia Schober and Otto Plath, had met when Aurelia became Otto’s student at Boston University. Otto was a biology professor with an infatuation with bees; he had even published a book titled Bumblebees and their ways. Otto and Aurelia married in January of 1932, and by October of the same year Aurelia gave birth in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts to a daughter, Sylvia. Sylvia spent her childhood