In the poem "Mirror"," Sylvia Plath uses strong metaphors and objects as things reflected in a mirror. Plath uses these reflections, along with water and color, as images that personify the use of the mirror. The poem describes a woman who seeks and yet denies the truth about herself and it reveals a woman growing older as she watches the process unfolding before her. This beautifully stated imagery results in a very heart felt poem.
The first sentence of the poem uses metaphoric words to describe Plath's reflection in the mirror. Plath stated, "I am silver and exact"." It shows that the mirror places no judgment; therefore the mirror shows what it sees and reflects that image. In the first stanza, the author sees her reflection in the mirror. Plath states, "The mirror is not cruel, only truthful"" (4) "It considered itself a four-cornered eye of a god" (5), therefore sees everything for what it is. The mirror is very important to the poet as she seeks the truth. Seeing her true self, she is aware of both her exterior and interior life. She is between a "false" outer self of appearance", and a "true" inner self." .
In the second stanza, the speaker goes from being a reflection in the mirror to a comparing herself to a lake. Plath says, "Now I am a lake."(10) and she looks for answers in the lake. To the reader, it may seem that the poet is suffering from delusions and depression. In the beginning, she was looking for answers in the reflection of the mirror but she seems unable to remember her past and truly understand who she is. Plath writes, "A woman bends over me/ searching my reaches for what she really is" (11) signifying that she is unable to move forward in life. She wasted her youth with constant self-evaluation and she never reached an understanding of who she really is. Therefore, as an adult, she is doomed to staring in the lake for answers. .
Later in "Mirror", Plath states, "Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon/ I see her back and reflect it faithfully".
