Mirror

“Mirror” is a free verse Confessional poem by American poet Sylvia Plath. It was originally written in 1961 and published in The New Yorker in 1963. It would appear 10 years later in her posthumous collection Crossing the Water (1971). This poem uses personification and metaphor to explore themes of aging, mortality, femininity, dichotomy of the self, and the gender expectations of society.

Poet Biography

Sylvia Plath was an American writer known for her Confessional poetry and her single novel, The Bell Jar. She was born in 1932 in Boston, Massachusetts to Aurelia and Otto Plath—the former a master’s student at the time, who would later go on to become a professor, and the latter a professor and apiarist. Sylvia Plath began composing early in life, publishing her first professional poem at eight years old. She lost her father around the same time, at which point she became desensitized with religion; her short relationship with her father would go on to influence some of her most famous work.

In 1950 she attended Smith’s College for women, where she became editor of the school journal. Although she was an exceptionally intelligent student, it was around this time that she began experiencing mental health issues. She attempted suicide in 1953. Shortly after, she moved to Cambridge on a prestigious scholarship and met the poet Ted Hughes; they were married a year later. The couple traveled between England, Canada, and the United States. Plath briefly taught at Smith’s College before returning to England with Hughes. She began a lifelong friendship with fellow Confessional poets Anne Sexton and Robert Lowell.

During these years, Plath and Hughes had two children, but they ultimately separated in 1962 after she discovered his affair. The majority of the work Plath is known for today was written around this time and in the months preceding her death. She died by suicide in 1963. Only The Bell Jar and the poetry collection The Colossus and Other Poems were published during Plath’s lifetime, though others, such as her most famous collection Ariel, followed posthumously. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1982. Today, Plath’s poetry is studied and beloved worldwide and is considered a cornerstone of the raw, Confessional literary movement.

Poem Text

Plath, Sylvia. “Mirror.” 1961. Allpoetry.com

Summary

A mirror describes its nature. The mirror sees things without preconceived ideas of what something should be, and without any bias about what it personally enjoys or finds distasteful. The mirror isn’t malicious but is always honest; it compares itself to a god’s eye with four corners.

The mirror spends most of its days staring at the pink wall across the room. The wall has become so familiar that the mirror feels as though it is a part of the wall. However, the mirror and the wall are often separated by things passing in between.

In the second stanza, the mirror becomes a lake and watches a woman beside it who stares into the mirror’s surface, searching for her own true nature. Unlike the dishonest candles and moonlight, the mirror shows the woman her real face.

The woman cries and wrings her hands but still returns to the mirror every morning. In the mirror, she sees the younger version of herself that has been lost and the older version of herself that comes a little bit closer each day.