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¶ … Mirror" by Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath, in her poem, "Mirror," uses a number of devices to bring across to the reader her theme. The title for example serves to give the reader an initial idea of the theme, and indeed this appears to be substantiated by the rest of the text. Nonetheless, there is also a deeper, more emotional theme that emerges towards the later lines of the poem. Thus, Plath uses devices such as symbolism, imagery and contrast in order to explicate the theme of reality and emotion as they are intertwined with the mirror on the wall of an aging woman.
The first lines of the poem then begin to explicate the role of the mirror from a purely factual, realistic point-of-view. This is substantiated by the material symbolism of the mirror: it is made of glass, which is "silver and exact" (line 1), showing everything "Just as it is" (line 3). The concept of "truth" is thus associated with the mirror in way that cannot be argued against or interpreted any differently from what is shown. Reality...
The mirror is "unmisted" (line 3), not affected by either positive or negative emotion. The truth that it shows has nothing to do with the non-existent emotion of the mirror, or the potential emotion of the object reflected in its clear glass. The truth is thus shown with absolute, "unmisted" clarity.
The most poignant contrast found in the poem is between the constancy symbolized by the mirror and the concept of change, which can be found in the second part of the first stanza. The assertion of the mirror in the fifth line of its nature and its shape, is the epitome of its claim to constant truth. It is "four-cornered" and "the eye of a little god." This suggests that it never changes in its vision of reality unmarred by emotion or change. In line 8 of the first stanza however it becomes clear that change is indeed part of the mirror's life. The wall at which it looks constantly "flickers." This is preceded by the word "But," which suggests…
Eventually, Esther sneaks into the cellar with a bottle of sleeping pills -- prescribed to her for the insomnia she was experiencing, without any other real attempts to understand or solve the underlying problems of her mental upset -- having left a note for her mother saying she was taking a long walk. Esther then swallows as many of the pills as she is able, and it appears to
There were also a few children's books by Sylvia Plath that there publish which include: "The Bed Book" (1976), "The It-Doesn't-Matter'Suit" (1996), "Collected Children's Stories" (2001), and "Mrs. Cherry's Kitchen" (2001). In conclusion, Sylvia Plath is a great American poet, short story writer, novelist, and essayist that provided the world with many great poems, short stories, prose and essays. For most of her short life, she suffered from clinical depression,
Ultimately, Lady Lazarus uses her status as a failed suicide as a source of power, not disempowerment. The haunting words of the end of the tale that she is a woman who eats men like air are meant to underline the fact that despite the fact that the doctors feel that they are the source of her coming to life again and again, there is a strength of spirit within
Plath as well as an examination of two of her poems. There were three sources used to complete this paper. Her Life Sylvia Plath spent her short adult life as a writer. Her works are held up today as classic pieces of poetry and literature and examined for their undercurrents as well as their meanings. Plath was born in 1932 to a professor father of German descent and an American mother
The reader must search for the theme of the poem, and only from learning about Plath's own life can ascertain that the subject. Plath's esoteric references are less accessible than Lincoln's musings about suicide, death, and hell. However, both Plath and Lincoln do directly mention death in their poems. Lincoln's narrator mentions in line two of "Suicide's Soliloquy" his "carcass" and then in line three, the "buzzards" that "pick
Sylvia Plath: The Use of Dramatic Monologue as Confessional Poetry Sylvia Plath presents an unusual paradox as a writer. On one hand, she is lauded by literary critics, particularly feminist critics, for her use of confessional poetry. Specifically, in poems such as "Daddy" and "Lady Lazarus" Plath is assumed to be 'confessing' certain aspects of her personal life. Like the speaker of "Daddy," she was the daughter of a German father;