ON
THE POEM
BY
SYLVIA PLATH
ARINDAM SENGUPTA
T.G.T(ENGLISH)
K.V.NAD.KARANJA,
MUMBAI
By the end of this presentation you will be able to:
Know briefly about the poet; Sylvia Plath.
 Understand the theme of the poem.
 Correlate the poem with the life of the
poet.
 Understand the poetic devices used in the
poem.
 Appreciate the beauty of the poem.

SYLVIA PLATH
•
PLATH (1932-1963) was born on 
October 27, 1932 and died on
February 1963. She was an American
novelist, poet and short story writer.
• She was of German origin, and lived
in the USA. When she was nine her
father died and it profoundly affected
her later life, marriage and poetry.
• She married a renowned poet Ted
Hughes in 1956 and had two children.
She wrote poetry laden with personal
imagery and intense focus. In 1962
after her separation from Hughes she
wrote MIRROR. She took her life in
1963.
• She won a posthumous Pulitzer Prize
in 1981 for ‘Collected Poems’
assembled and edited by Hughes.
•SYLVIA
SYLVIA PLATH
on her youth
BACKGROUND OF THE POEM
The poem “Mirror,” by Sylvia
Plath is an honest piece of
literature. The Poem is about
truth, reflection, aging and
death. Sylvia Plath suffered from
severe depression and low self
esteem. After her divorce from
Ted Hughes her depression
became worse. Three days after
she
wrote
'Mirror'
she
committed suicide, drowning
herself in a lake. Many people
argue that when she describes
the lake, she is actually
contemplating the suicide she
later
carries
out.
MIRROR
I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
Whatever I 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.
Absorb
Perfect
The Mirror is personified, first
person. Mirror, an inanimate
object, the poet gives it life, with
emotions & feelings
I am silver and exact. I have no
preconceptions.
Whatever I see, I swallow
Unmixed
immediately.
Just as it is, unmisted by love or
Not Prejudiced/ no
dislike.
pre-conceived
notion
Not harsh
towards
anyone.
GOD like characteristics, free
from worldly illusion, cannot be
cheated by love or hate. Honest,
Reliable, Powerful & Valuable.
Metaphor
Appearance
I am not cruel, only truthful –
Reflect
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.
Colour of wall,
compared with a
face- pink with
freckles.
Spots
The Wall
Long reflection&
Inexplicable bond
makes it dear to the
mirror.
Changes
frequently.
Repetition
The
whole poem is personification. The "speaker" is a
mirror; the poem is written from the perspective of the
mirror as if it was capable of thinking and expressing
itself --that's personification.
The poem “Mirror,” by Sylvia Plath is an honest piece
of literature. The theme of this poem is truth, and how
this lady is scared to accept the truth .
 This poem is very engaging. Although poetry is
beautiful in many ways it can be dark and saddening at
times. This poem is dark, full of unhappiness, and only
views the world from a pessimistic perspective. speaker but
it takes on different forms.
ASSIGNMENT

Read the extracts given and answer the questions that follow as briefly as
possible.
1. I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
 Whatever I see I swallow immediately
 Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.

a) Who is ‘I’ in the above lines?
b) Why ‘I’ considers himself as “exact”?
c) “I have no preconceptions”. Explain.
 d) “I am silver and exact”. What is the figure of speech used here?




2. I am not cruel, only truthfulThe 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.


a) What are the Godly characteristics a mirror has?
b) Why the mirror considered the wall “a part of my heart”?
Personification
having the same
power to reflect
honest images.
A woman is seen
observing her
image meticulously.
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
Disappointed and Unsatisfied
she resorts to moon & candle to
or the moon.
hide her flaws.
I see her back, and reflect it faithfully.
She rewards me with tears and an agitation
Irony
of hands.
Insignificant
aspect of the
person in
question.
The dim light that they
exude deceive her into
believing she’s young,
by hiding her wrinkles.
too honest
and too
blunt for
the woman
sheer protest
reluctant to
acknowledge the
truth.
.
Mirror is valuable. It
has God like
Importance.
woman is
addicted to the
mirror .
I am important to her. She comes and goes.
Each morning it is her face that replaces the
She does regard the mirror. she is
darkness.
the first to replace 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. She misses the youth and beauty of the young
The poetess utilizes the
girl she once was and now as she looks at her
reflection, to rediscover the young girl that
had drowned in the mirror. Nevertheless,
what arises is an old woman
simile of a ‘terrible fish’
that is at once revolting
and unpleasant to all the
major sensory perceptions.
The
whole poem is personification. The "speaker" is a
mirror; the poem is written from the perspective of the
mirror as if it was capable of thinking and expressing
itself --that's personification.
The poem “Mirror,” by Sylvia Plath is an honest piece
of literature. The theme of this poem is truth, and how
this lady is scared to accept the truth .
 This poem is very engaging. Although poetry is
beautiful in many ways it can be dark and saddening at
times. This poem is dark, full of unhappiness, and only
views the world from a pessimistic perspective. speaker but
it takes on different forms.
L-1‘I am silver and exact’.
PERSONIFICAT L-10 ‘Now I am a lake’.
The poet gives human qualities to inanimate things
ION
like the mirror and the lake.
I see I swallow immediately’
The mirror swallows (absorbs) the lady’s reflection.
L-2 ‘Whatever
METAPHOR
SIMILE
L-17-18 ‘ .... and in me an old woman
Rises towards her day after day like a terrible fish’
The reflection she sees of herself in the mirror shows
signs of old age and she compares it to a terrible fish.
ACKNOWLEDGEME
NTS
1.Interact in English –
Literature Reader - Class
X.
2.www.google.com
1.www.yahoo.com
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