Sylvia Plath's Poem Mirror

The poem “Mirror” gives the perspective of a mirror and how it views itself and the world, and in turn, how the world views it. Sylvia Plath conveys her interpretation of a mirror primarily through personification and metaphorical parallels. To further her explanation, she contrasts the mirror’s own perception of itself against its perception of a woman who often visits it.

In the first stanza, the mirror describes itself and its complete objectivity towards the outside world. The mirror considers itself without preconception, stating itself as, “unmisted by love or dislike.” This notion refers to how mirrors reflect back exactly what is given to them, without distortion or changes; mirrors are not subjective to their subject. Furthermore, the mirror compares itself to “the eye of a little god.” In this, the mirror calls itself redoubtable absolute, such as a god. With

these personifications, the mirror attempts to separate itself from the world it observes. The mirror continues to describe itself, but in the context of its surroundings, specifically the wall across form itself. Without anyone or anything else in front of it, all the mirror has is the wall, to the point where the mirror sees the wall as a part of itself. Specifically, the mirror states, “I think it is part of my heart.” The mirror is so familiarized with the wall’s presence that it views the wall as less part of the outside world and more of an extension of itself.
The poem experiences a shift as it moves into the second stanza, and the mirror begins describes a woman who frequents it often rather than itself.

Much of the second stanza parallels the first in concepts, but contrasting in development. While in the first stanza the mirror describes itself as absolute truth, it degrades both the candles and the moon that the woman turns to as liars in the second. This comparison of the mirror to the moon and candles helps contrast how the mirror sees itself versus how the mirror is seen by the world, particularly the woman. The concept of how the mirror is perceived by the woman is carried throughout the second stanza, particularly in the line: “she rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands,” helps convey her negative attitude to how the mirror reflects herself. The poem closes with another metaphorical parallel, connecting back to the first line of second stanza. If the mirror is a lake, than the woman, constantly viewing herself in it, is a fish. This all supports the mirror’s interpretation of itself, absolute, tacit and unaffected by its

subject.
In the poem, the mirror conveys’ its own indifference to how it reflects the outside world. To the mirror, the only interpretation that it gives credence to is the one the mirror has of itself.