Mirror

A poem that explores self-perception and self-knowledge. In another poem, Plath wrote: “Mirrors can talk and kill; they are terrible rooms in which a torture goes on one can only watch.”

Written in the autumn of 1961, Mirror seems to have been partly inspired by Plath’s interest in fairy-tales (such as the talking mirror in Snow White). The form the poem takes, phrased like a series of riddles, may also stem from this.

§ The talking mirror speaks of what it sees and may stand for the perceiving self.
§ “I am silver and exact”, suggests on the one hand something valuable and accurate, but the ambiguous word “exact” (which also means to extort) and the connotations of “silver” taken together imply something heartless and inanimate that demands payment. The opening statement expresses both meanings simultaneously. The poem moves back and forth between symbolic and ordinary meanings. If the mirror is a metaphor for the perceiving self, then the opening statement suggests a harsh and unforgiving way of viewing the self, perhaps even a lack of self-love.
§ The poet uses personification to sinister effect. The personality of the mirror is loaded with contradictions and ambiguities…
Ø The mirror swallows (consumes) what it sees but says this is not being cruel.
Ø In fact it suggests that exactitude is a value and associates it with truth but how far can we agree with it when it suggests that it is superior to the light of the moon and stars? Is this being faithful to the woman who is reflected?
Ø Can we reconcile this claimed fidelity with the mirror’s lack of concern for the for the woman’s distress?
Ø The persona of the mirror appears smug but is also slighted by the woman’s rewarding him with “tears and an agitation of hands.”
Ø Is the voice of the mirror masculine, i.e. should we say “he reflects”? Is the voice of the mirror the voice of the women looking into the mirror? Is this Plath talking or is the voice in the poem separate from the poet? This ability to communicate on a number of levels while remaining focussed is one of the strengths of this poem.
§ In keeping with the ambiguous persona of the mirror, the lake imagery of the second stanza suggests depth although a mirror only provides a two-dimensional image. How does it acquire depth? The sinister associations – lakes can be murky and treacherous – may suggest that the search for self-understanding is a dangerous act.
§ The phrases “each morning” and ”day after day” suggest that the search for self-understanding and self-love is played out against the movement of time. That movement is given a horrific, almost monstrous, quality in the final image of the drowned girl and an old woman “like a terrible fish” implying many fears and insecurities

Ø the fear of time and old age
Ø the fear of entrapment and alienation
Ø the fear of losing control
Ø the fear of annihilation


Questions
1. What qualities does the mirror ascribe to itself in the first four lines?
2. In what sense might a mirror be said to “swallow things”?
3. “I am not cruel”. Is the voice of the poem cruel?
4. Where in the poem do we find a sense of dread and panic apart from the final image?