Mirror
By Sylvia Plath
I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
What ever you see I swallow immediately
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.
I am not cruel, only truthful---
The eye of a little god, four-cornered.
Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.
It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long
I think it is a part of my heart. But it flickers.
Faces and darkness separate us over and over.
Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me,
Searching my reaches for what she really is.
Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.
I see her back, and reflect it faithfully.
She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.
I am important to her. She comes and goes.
Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.
In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman
Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.
1. It has one speaker. It is talking to another person. Telling directly what's happening. Witnessing dramatic event .
2. ' Whatever I see I swallow immediately- this is a visual image
' But it flickers'- visual image, tactile image
'Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon'- visual image
'She rewards me with tears'- visual, tactile image
'In me she has drowned a young girl'- visual, tactile, auditory
The images in this story help set the tone of the whole poem. They are unhappy images and make the reader feel sad or down. Which in turn, sets the tone of sadness.
3. ' Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me.'- This is the comparison to Narcisis who became in love with himself after seeing his reflection in a lake. The woman does the same thing, she falls in love with the way she looks in the mirror.