Mirror: Reflections of Truth

505 Words2 Pages

“Mirror”: Reflections of Truth

In Sylvia Plath’s poem “Mirror”, the reader takes a look into the messages presented and compares them with the reflections that are cast in a mirror and images in a lake. When reading this poem, we discover that the speaker is the actual reflection that gives the interpretation of its views. The first interpretation is shown as a mirror on the wall “I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.” (1), second as the water in the lake because she states “Now I am a lake.” (10), and third through the eyes of an aging woman that is revealed in line 17 “In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman/ Rises toward her day after day…”
In the first stanza the reflection personifies the ability to take in what it sees without judging stating “I hav...

Show More
Related

  • Theme Of Rebirth In Fahrenheit 451

    1038 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mirrors are first introduced in part one of the novel where Clarisse is describes as a mirror by Montag. Also presented by Granger towards the end of the novel, the mirror is a symbol of the lacking self-reflection but also it cure. Mirrors reflect a perfect image of a person back at them – an image that is neither tarnished nor beautified. Mirror here are a symbol of seeing within one’s soul in pursuit of rebirth, and are a tool to be used in the search what has gone terribly wrong in such an empty society. In a society that lives without living, thinking or feeling like Montag’s looking into a mirror ma spark a thought, and a thought may spark that internal rebellion. Furthermore, metaphorical mirrors are of equal significance when understanding this symbol. Clarisse is Montag’s inner mirror; she reflects the personality and life of Montag back at him, allowing him to learn and question what he sees. Montag is also Faber’s mirror – he reflects Faber’s recent emptiness and his cowardice at not attempting release society from its suffering. Mirrors are a great symbol of self-actualization that leads to rebirth in the novel Fahrenheit

    Read More

  • A Courage’s Attempt to Take Her Life back in Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy”

    1990 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath: 1950-1962. 430 Ed. Karen V. Kukil. Transcribed from the original manuscripts at Smith College. New York: Anchor, 2000.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Mirrors In Speak

    831 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mirrors, traditionally used for seeing a reflection, usually of someone’s true outer self. In Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel Speak, Melinda Sordino does not want to see herself. After Melinda was raped at a high school party by Andy Evans, she becomes severely depressed and unable to speak. In this novel, mirrors symbolize how Melinda despises her appearance, and show how she is unable to accept her own reflection after she was raped.

    Read More

  • Distraught and Haunted Poet

    854 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sylvia Plath may be one of the most remarkable and idolized modern poets of the twentieth century. Sylvia Plath had an emotional life, and a troublesome past with her father's death, insecurities because of self-doubt, a tragic break up with her husband and severe depression, leading to her suicide in 1963. These tragic events in Plath’s life played a vast part in her career as a poet and novelist, by inspiring her to create her melancholy and notorious masterpieces.

    Read More

  • Guide Dogs

    383 Words  | 1 Pages

    Guide dogs begin training at just a puppy. The dogs are taught basic things like to sit, stay, wait, down, off, etc. and of course they are taught to be house broken. The social training for the dog is one of the most important of all they will learn. During this training dogs are introduced to sights, smells, sounds, and unusual surfaces. The trainers also keep close attention to their socializing toward dogs, people, and traffic. And this is a basic training for a guide dog.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of A Mad Girl's Love Song

    1599 Words  | 4 Pages

    As the tone changes the perspective of the reader changes as well. There is no clear way to determine whether the speaker is responding to her situation with the appropriate amount of madness or is actually going mad and escaping into her own mind. Plath’s poem shows how a woman 's happiness was defined by her relationship to a man, which is enough to infuriate or drive any woman insane. The speaker struggles to continue her very existence because of her lost love. It is true that the speaker is very emotional and feels things very deeply, but that is not enough to prove that she had lost her mind. By the end of the poem the speaker seems to realize that she is wasting her time waiting on a man. She would rather have a present love that is completely unfathomable than a real love that is not around. The repetition in this poem makes the reader believe this loss is actually causing the speaker to lose her mind, but through changing tones that mirror the emotions anyone would go through in a situation of loss like this the speaker’s response is completely

    Read More

  • Essay On Patient Restraints

    921 Words  | 2 Pages

    Restraints are defined as, “a measure or condition that keeps someone or something under control or within limits” (Google 1). How would someone feel if he or she were restrained from natural movement or thinking? In the medical field, restraints are meant to be used to prevent harm of the patient and others with a doctor's order, yet this is not always the case. Restraints in today's time hold a negative connotation although are necessary for patient safety.

    Read More

  • Sylvia Plath

    2097 Words  | 5 Pages

    Plath’s work is valuable for its ability to reach today’s reader, because of its concern with the real problems of our culture. In this age of gender conflicts, broken families, and economic inequities, Plath’s forthright language speaks loudly about the anger of being both betrayed and powerless. She was hailed as literary symbol of the women’s rights movement and a feminist writer of great significance. Sylvia Plath began by creating art that imitated life, but ended when life imitated art.

    Read More

  • Truman's Perception Of Truth In The Truman Show Directed By Peter Weir

    727 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Truman Show directed by Peter Weir, is about Truman Burbank who is a simple man, living a predictable and ideal life in a world that revolves around him. He was an unwanted baby who was legally adopted by a television corporation. Ever since he was born his every move has been monitored by thousands of cameras and analyzed by an audience without his knowledge. His life is on display for millions of people around the world to watch 24 hours a day. He is the star of a reality TV show, The Truman Show. There’s just one thing, he is completely oblivious to it. Truman also believes that his friends, coworkers, strangers, and loved ones are who they say they are; however, they are just all actors hired by the creator of the TV show Christof, who uses these actors to control Truman’s life and prevent him from figuring out the dishonesty of a “real life.” As he

    Read More

  • psych plath

    1584 Words  | 4 Pages

    Otto Plath’s death was a traumatic event for young Sylvia and lead to some of her later emotional troubles, consequently affecting her for the rest of her life. In the beginning of Plath’s poem, “The Colossus,” the speaker struggles in repairing the listener who has taken on ...

    Read More

  • Mirrors by Sylvia Plath

    975 Words  | 2 Pages

    The declaimer of the poem says “I am silver and exact [and] whatever I see I swallow” (1, 20). The purpose of these devices is to convey the position of the mirror in the poem. As an inanimate object, the mirror is incapable of consuming anything but the appearance of entities. Furthermore, the glass’ role accentuates an inner mirror, the human mirror, which does not forget instances of misery and contentment. According to Freedman, the mimicking image emulated by the mirror elicits “.

    Read More

  • Daddy

    1084 Words  | 3 Pages

    Giles, Richard F. “Sylvia Plath.” A Critical Survey of Poetry. Englewood: Salem Press, 1982. 2220-2231.

    Read More

  • How To Train A Dog Essay

    508 Words  | 2 Pages

    Training a puppy is not easy. It is a lot of hard work. This requires a lot of patients and discipline. It also means a trainer will spend many hours getting to know the dog and building a relationship with him. The dog sees the trainer and is very loyal. You will have to figure out how the dog will act, if he is tough and fearless or sweet and ready to listen. Now we start training the dog.

    Read More

  • Sylvia Plath's Life and How It Influenced Her Poetry

    1847 Words  | 4 Pages

    Sylvia Plath’s life was full of disappointment, gloominess and resentment. Her relationship status with her parents was hostile and spiteful, especially with her father. Growing up during World War II did not help the mood of the nation either, which was dark and dreary. At age 8 Plath’s father of German ancestry died of diabetes and even though their relationship was never established nor secure, his death took a toll on her. “For Sylvia, who had been his favorite, it was an emotional holocaust and an experience from which she never fully recovered” (Kehoe 90). Since she was so young she never got to work out her unsettled feelings with him. Even at age eight, she hid when he was around because she was fearful of him. When she was in his presence his strict and authoritarian figure had left an overpowering barrier between their relationship. Sadly enough by age eight Plath instead of making memories with her dad playing in the yard she resented him and wanted nothing to do with him (Kehoe). These deep-seated feelings played a major role in Plath’s poetry writings. Along with his “hilterian figure,” her father’s attitude towards women was egotistical and dismissive, uncondemning. This behavior infuriated Plath; she was enraged about the double standard behavior towards women. Plath felt controlled in male-dominated world (Lant). “Because Plath associates power so exclusively with men, her conviction that femininity is suffocating and inhibiting comes as no surprise” (Lant 631). This idea of a male-dominated world also influenced Plath’s writing. Unfortunately, Plath married a man just like her father Ted Hughes. “Hughes abandonment apparently stirred in her the memories and feelings she had struggled with when her ...

    Read More

  • Research Paper On Sylvia Plath

    1669 Words  | 4 Pages

    Through her dark and intense poetry, Sylvia Plath left an eternal mark on the literary community. Her personal struggles with depression, insecurities, and suicidal thoughts influenced her poetry and literary works. As a respected twentieth century writer, Sylvia Plath incorporated various literary techniques to intensify her writing. Her use of personification, metaphors, and allusions in her poems “Ariel,” “Lady Lazarus,” and “Edge”, exemplifies her talent as a poet and the influence her own troubled life had on her poetry.

    Read More

More about Mirror: Reflections of Truth

Open Document