Poem Analysis

Sylvia Plath was known as an American Poet, Novelist and Shorty story writer. However, Plath lived a melancholic life. After Plath graduated from Smith College, Plath moved to Cambridge, England on a full scholarship. While Plath was Studying in England, she married Ted Hughes, an English poet. Shortly after, Plath returned to Massachusetts and began her first collection of poems, “Colossus”, which was published first in England and later the United States. Due to depression built up inside, Plath committed suicide leaving her family behind. Sylvia Plath was a gifted and troubled poet, known for the confessional style of her work, which is how “Mirror” came to be. Although this poem may seem like the reader is reading from first person point of view, there is a much deeper meaning behind Plath’s message throughout the poem. Plath uses several elements of terror and darkness to show change to the minds of the readers.
Many readers are shocked when they discover that it’s the mirror as the speaker and not a first person point of view. The poem lets us know from the start that the mirror is the narrator within the title and the first line, “I am silver and exact.” The mirror has a lot of human- like qualities. Therefore, the speaker’s voice remains the same throughout the poem before changing form between the first and second stanza for a mirror to the lake. The reader can see the mirror in the first stanza clearly: four-cornered, silver, and hung across form a pink like wall.
The reader starts to imagine that the mirror is hanging in a bathroom or a room like in the woman’s home. While reading the poem, the reader can imagine the mirror bragging about how true to life it is and the realism it represents. As the mirror switches in...

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...nly purpose for which it is worth living. The poem is effective in detailing the general struggle which many people go through, searching for a place in life, whether among acquaintances, friends, or a spouse. The ultimate meaning however is not found in reality, even when we understand it perfectly, but in a purpose higher than in oneself. In the poem, there is a continuing theme of change. In the beginning the changes are simple, like the acts of day turning to night, but at the end we see the life changes of a woman in particular. Through the use of metaphor and personification in the poem, Plath creates images of water, reflections, and colors as having human characteristics to emphasize the strong theme of change throughout the poem. Therefore throughout the poem “mirror” Plath uses several elements of terror and darkness to show change in the minds of readers.