MIRROR
By
Sylvia Plath
Presentation
by
Sanjay Kumar TGT( English)
K.V.Rohtak
DISCUSS IN PAIRS
When do you generally use a mirror?
Is it possible to do without a mirror?
Here is a list of possible reasons why
one uses mirror. Tick the ones you agree
with.
•To check one’s appearance
•To look beautiful
•To make sure that one is neat and tidy
before going out.
CONTINUED
• To check the face for a pimple
or a grey hair
•To apply make up.
•To make a phone call.
•As a decorative item at home
Listen to the poem Mirror by
Sylvia plath
SYLVIA PLATH AS A
TEENAGER
SYLVIA WITH HER CHILDREN
INTRODUCTION TO THE POET
SYLVIA PLATH (1932-1963) 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.
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.
ACTIVITY
The poem is a monologue. Imagine you are
standing in front of a mirror, now deliver a
monologue telling the positive as well as
negative traits of your personality.
Imagine that you are the mirror. Write a
speech that you would like to deliver to the
humans who come to see their reflections in
your depths.
APPRECIATION OF THE POEM
STANZA: 1
The poem begins with a mirror describing itself as reflecting
images falling on it, with truth and perfection. It is not
prejudiced on any account.
“I am silver and exact, I have no
preconceptions.
Whatever I see I swallow immediately
Just a s it is, unmisted by love or dislike.”
The mirror takes on itself God-like powers; says
it sits meditating on the wall, interrupted only by
darkness and faces of ladies whose reflections
appear on it.
 “I am important to her. She comes and goes.
Each morning it is her face that replaces the
darkness”.

The scene shifts to a lake 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 or the moon.”

Disappointed she turns to the candles and
moon in an attempt to hide her flaws in the
darkness.
The dim light that they exude
deceive her into believing she’s young, by
hiding her wrinkles.

But the lake gives an exact reflection of her
face. It is no longer young and fresh. There are
signs of ageing. She is upset for she finds it
difficult to accept the fact that she is growing
old.
STANZA II
The mirror is a very important part of her existence. She
misses the youth and beauty of the young girl she once was
and now as she looks at her reflection, she sees the signs of
old age slowly creeping on to her face day by day, like a
terrible fish emerging out of a clear and tranquil lake.
“In me she has drowned a young
girl, and in me an old woman
Rises toward her day after day like a
terrible fish.”
What are Figures of Speech?
Figures of Speech are modes of expression in which
words are used out of their literal meaning or out of their
ordinary use. This adds beauty or emotional intensity
which help to transfer the poet’s sense of impression by
comparing or identifying one thing with another that has
a meaning familiar to the reader.
What are the Figures of Speech in the poem?
•Metaphor
•Simile
•Personification
•Repetition
DEFINITIONS
Metaphor is an implied comparison between two things
that are essentially different in order to emphasize a
quality that they share.
Simile is a comparison using ‘like’ or ‘as’ between
two things that are essentially different in order to
emphasize a common characteristic.
Personification is giving animals, objects or ideas human
characteristics.
Repetition is where a specific word, phrase or structure is
repeated several times to emphasize a particular idea.
IDENTIFYING FIGURES OF SPEECH IN THE POEM
L-2 ‘Whatever I see I swallow immediately’
The mirror swallows (absorbs) the lady’s reflection.
The figure of speech used is METAPHOR
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.
The figure of speech used is SIMILE
L-18 ‘Rises towards her day after day like a terrible
fish’.
The repetition of these words emphasis the despair
she feels on seeing her lost
youth.
The figure of speech used is REPETITION
L-1 ‘I am silver and exact’.
L-10 ‘Now I am a lake’.
The poet gives human qualities to inanimate things
like the mirror and the lake.
The figure of speech used is PERSONIFICATION
HOME ASSIGNMENT –
Pick out examples of Personification from the poem.
A mirror helps us like a psychotherapist. If you are a
stage shy and lack confidence, stand in front of the
mirror and speak out your dialogues. Soon, you will see
that your inhibitions are gone and you can speak out
flawlessly.
 ‘Are you scared of ageing and graying’? Now write down
a few things where you feel a mirror can help you.


COMPILED BY :SANJAY KUMAR(TGT ENG.)
K.V. ROHTAK