“Mirror” Poem Blog Post

The poem begins immediately with a comparison between the mirror and silver. This comparison explains its worth in the eyes of the person looking at the mirror. But when the poem states that the mirror meditates most of the time, I think it shows how disposable the mirror can be to a person. The person only uses the mirror for one purpose and won’t associate with it any other time of the day until that person comes back with an urge to see a reflection. Thus, the person treasures the reflection more than the mirror. The mirror is there only for convenience, as reflections aren’t only where mirrors are.

The lake calls the candles or the moon liars, insinuating that they don’t present a truthful image. Despite presenting the woman what she really looks like, and despite presenting the woman the truth about her, the lake is ironically met with a fit of fury from her. However, despite the dramatic reaction coming from her, she eventually makes her way back, showing her vanity and obsession with how she looks. She spends her time constantly at the lake, looking at herself, wasting her life away. I assume she has been drowning herself in her reflection ever since she was young, as it says in the poem, “In me she has drowned a young girl” (Plath). She has been too preoccupied with herself and fails to experience youth. Day by day, she fawns over herself, only to realize that whenever each passing day comes back, her youth will continually disappear and instead of seeing her youthful appearance, she will only see the wrinkles that stain her face.