Gelenidze 1
Tsotne Gelenidze
Prof. Alan F. Hickman
Exposition 101a
04 Nov. 2010
Comparison of Two Poems by Sylvia Plath
Poems written by the same poet often share similar topics and themes regardless of
what may be occurring within the poem itself. A major theme in one poem may barely be
even recognized in another poem but they are still present. From the works of Sylvia
Plath, this idea can be seen vividly as her poetry contains similar subjects and themes in
different scenarios and settings.
The poem Mirror by Plath describes the relationship between Plath and her
parents. In the opening stanza, she takes the form of a mirror where she reflects the
opposite wall. Here, the wall is a representation of her father and she says “but it flickers.
Faces and darkness separate us over and over”, meaning that people and events in her life
caused her to miss out on spending more quality and loving time with her father. She
regrets this greatly and is clearly upset as a result. Continuing on to the second stanza,
describing her relationship with her mother. Now, she takes the form of a lake and an old
woman looks into the lake to see her reflection. The woman may represent her mother as
Plath describes the lake as being “important to her”. The woman sees her elderly
reflection and this causes her grief and sadness. On seeing her reflection, she rewards the
lake “with tears and agitation of hands”, showing her true feelings towards her age. She
greatly misses her youth and looks now that she is becoming older. Also, it can be seen
that Plath sees herself in her mother.
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Secondly, from the poem Morning Song by Plath also, which explores the
relationship between her mother and newly born child. The poem continuously describes
how close mother feels to the child and how distant she feels from the child also. The
poem opens with the mother clearly showing her love for the child but eventually shows
how distant she feels from the baby as she says “our voices echo, magnifying your
arrival. New statue. In a drafty museum, your nakedness shadows our safety”. Describing
her child to a statue in a non-homely environment such as a museum clearly displays the
mother’s feelings of distance between her child and herself. She stays close to the baby as
she can hear her child’s “moth-breath” all night and one cry causes her to “stumble from
bed” to attend to the child. Here, she worries for the child which is a sign of love. The
poem ends with the mother feeling that the child is close and distant from her at the same
time and she is unaware why this is so.
Both these poems share a common theme of family and relationship. The poem
Mirror deals with Plath’s relationship with her parents and similarly in Morning Song
which deals with the relationship between a mother and her child. Also, both poems have
a sense of sadness in them as Mirror deals with regret and Morning Song explores a
distant relationship between a mother and a child. Furthermore, the idea of Mirror is
present in each poem. In Mirror, the poet takes the identity of the mirror and in Morning
Song, the mirror is used as a medium of reflection to highlight the fact that the mother
can not take credit for the existence of the child. The same language devices are used in
both poems in the form of similes, metaphors and personification. From Mirror similes
and metaphors such as “the eye of a little god”, which is used to describe the mirror, and
from Morning Song, it says “like a terrible fish”, which is used to describe the appearance
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of the elderly woman from the reflection, can be seen evidently. Also, both poems
contain personification. Examples of this can be seen in Mirror when it says “I swallow
immediately”, which is used to describe how the mirror receives a reflection, and from
Morning Song, it says “I am no more your mother than the cloud that distills a mirror to
reflect its own slow effacement at the wind’s hand”.
To conclude, it can be seen that both of these poems by Sylvia Plath contain very similar
ideas, subject and language devices that help clearly emphasize the event taking place
with each poem.