Friday, August 30, 2019
ââ¬ËMirrorââ¬â¢ & double-layered poem Essay
ââ¬ËMirrorââ¬â¢ is a double-layered poem: The mirror, personified and equipped with senses, sees and depicts its world in the most honest terms; then we see our own world from the mirrorââ¬â¢s perspectiveââ¬âhow raw and tormenting it is. Why the author chooses to personify a mirror as the poemââ¬â¢s narrator is firstly because it is an object most closely associated with a woman who seeks to see ââ¬Å"what she really isâ⬠(11). When she is young, the mirror cheerfully reflects and praises her youthful beauty, letting her contemplate on her own appearance. When she is old, it cruelly reminds her of timeââ¬â¢s meddling in her fading beauty and how life has passed and left her behind. Secondly, the mirror reflects the world just as it isââ¬âit cannot lie to usââ¬âand faithfully shows us all signs of aging, sorrow, pain and sickness that appear in our face. The theme of the poem is the effects of time reflected in the mirror, how it ââ¬Å"has drowned a young girlâ⬠and makes a woman become ââ¬Å"an old womanâ⬠. Adverbs depicting the motion of time are employed throughout the poem: ââ¬Å"most of the timeâ⬠(6), ââ¬Å"so longâ⬠(7), ââ¬Å"over and overâ⬠(9), ââ¬Å"Nowâ⬠(10), ââ¬Å"Each morningâ⬠(16), ââ¬Å"day after dayâ⬠(18). The irony is deliberated in the difference between the mirrorââ¬â¢s reflection and cognition of changes in the outside world. The woman who looks at the mirror is sad because her beauty and youthfulness are fading while her tears and agitation are considered ââ¬Å"rewardsâ⬠by the mirror. In the first stanza, the mirror simply tries to define its existence and introduce the reader to its world using its own language register. In the opening line, the mirror describes its appearance and unique quality, ââ¬Å"I am silver and exact. I have no preconception. â⬠(1). The word ââ¬Ëswallowââ¬â¢ demonstrates Plathââ¬â¢s sensitivities and playfulness in her personification and imagery: everything is instantly reflected inside the mirror as if the mirror has devoured them. Next, mirror immediately explains its ââ¬Ënon-discriminatoryââ¬â¢ behaviours as being truthful rather than cruel. In the last four lines of stanza 1, the mirror honestly describes its bounded world. Ironically, even though the mirror reflects everything truthfully and exactly with no preconceptions or prejudice, it seems to live in self-created illusions, that the opposite wall is ââ¬Å"a part of my heartâ⬠. Line 8 presents the mirror with human characteristics, not ââ¬Å"the eye of a little god, four-corneredâ⬠as it describes itself. Nevertheless, its world constantly collides with the world outside itââ¬âour world: ââ¬Å"it flickers. //Faces and darkness separate us over and over. â⬠In the first stanza, the use of caesura in most of the sentences interrupts the flow of the poem but gives the mirror its own tone: emphatic and meditative. The enjambment between line 2 and 3 as well as between line 7 and 8 allow the mirror to reflect on itself naturally and coherently. In stanza 2, the mirror ironically creates another illusion, ââ¬Å"Now I am a lakeâ⬠(10), which is in contrast with its claim to be ââ¬Å"only truthfulâ⬠. It proudly demonstrates its usefulness in helping a woman to see ââ¬Å"what she really isâ⬠. The images of the ââ¬Å"candlesâ⬠and ââ¬Å"moonâ⬠(12) may symbolize fragility, inconstancy and instability which contrast with how faithfully it serves the woman (13). The connection between the mirror and the woman strengthens by day: it is important to her and she brightens its existence. Nevertheless, its unintended cruelty is shown in its being ââ¬Å"only truthfulâ⬠(4). The simile ââ¬Ëlike a terrible fishââ¬â¢ is consistent with the mirrorââ¬â¢s illusion that it is a lake but it shows Plathââ¬â¢s grotesque and tormenting view of agingââ¬âas a destructive and dehumanizing process. The poem is structured as narrative prose poetry, with the use of caesura to create an emphatic tone, to present the mirror as a misunderstood, proud and honest object. The mirror exactly and dutifully reflects what appears before it and considers the changes shown in it othersââ¬â¢ doing and completely out of its power: ââ¬Å"she drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman//Rises toward her day after dayâ⬠(17-18).
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