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.
Sylvia Plath
Comments (3)
Mr. Mullen said
at 7:59 pm on Oct 17, 2011
Which word in the first stanza shows that the mirror believes it is objective and unbiased?
unmisted
meditate
flickers
separate
Mr. Mullen said
at 8:00 pm on Oct 17, 2011
Why are candles and the moon "liars" (12)?
Mr. Mullen said
at 8:00 pm on Oct 17, 2011
How does the poem characterize the relationship between the mirror and the woman introduced in stanza 2?
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