Mirror By Sylvia Plath

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THE MIRROR – Sylvia Plath 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 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. NOTES preconceptions – an idea or opinion that is formed before you have enough information or experience unmisted – not mixed four-cornered – mirror watches unbiased and fair from all the four angles pink, with speckles – a person with a healthy pink face with freckles flickers – to keep going on and off agitation of hands – the person is very upset SUMMARY Sylvia Plath through her poem ‘Mirror’ tries to reveal how human prefer the world of illusions. In this poem, the protagonist mirror monologuically narrates its character. The mirror says it is silver in colour and exact in appearance and has no prejudices about the objects that come before it. It says whatever appears before it, is suddenly swallowed without any alteration. In comparison to human the mirror does not have any emotions like love or hatred. The mirror says though its truthfulness does not please the onlooker, it does not have any intention to be cruel and it only likes to be truthful. The mirror
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