Have you ever seen yourself in a mirror and wished it wasn’t you? Mirror is a poem written by Sylvia Plath. Written in two stanzas, Mirror has two main speakers. Sylvia Plath, coming from a rough life of suicidal thoughts, wrote this poem to truthfully express her true feelings. The poem consists of a truthful recognition from a changing of reflection.
Mirrors has a variety of themes such as identity, honesty, and a real self versus a fake self perspective. The main theme that is shown in Mirrors is identity. The mirror never hides the truth from the woman: “I see her back, and reflect it faithfully”(13). Sadness becomes the main tone of the poem as the second stanza comes about. The frustration and sadness the woman feels is so real: “She awards me with tears and agitation of hands”(14).
There are many differences between stanza one and two. During stanza one, the mirror first describes itself as “silver and exact”(1). It has no judgements, just merely shows the true reflection with no alteration. The second stanza is significant because it exposes the woman’s need of the mirror and the mirrors need of the woman. It reflects more than an image, it reflects its own understanding of the world.
Overall, Mirror represents the tensions between inner and outer selves, as well as shows the feminine problem of aging and losing one's beauty. The mirror helps the woman find her true identity. The poem is about a woman torn between the true picture of herself and the distorted images others see of her.