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Analyzing Sylvia Plath's "Mirror" Poem

In Sylvia Plath's poem "Mirror," personification and symbolism illustrate the theme of beauty's impermanence. The mirror, personified as truthful yet unkind, reflects the woman's aging and evokes feelings of sadness as her youthful beauty fades. Ultimately, the poem conveys a melancholic exploration of self-perception and the inevitable loss of beauty over time.

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85 views2 pages

Analyzing Sylvia Plath's "Mirror" Poem

In Sylvia Plath's poem "Mirror," personification and symbolism illustrate the theme of beauty's impermanence. The mirror, personified as truthful yet unkind, reflects the woman's aging and evokes feelings of sadness as her youthful beauty fades. Ultimately, the poem conveys a melancholic exploration of self-perception and the inevitable loss of beauty over time.

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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Ariadna Ortiz

P.4

“Mirror” by Sylvia Plath

The poem “Mirror” by Sylvia Plath uses personification and symbolism to develop a

them of beauty not being everlasting. With personification, the mirror is given the characteristic

of a person which is to be truthful. For symbolism, the mirror symbolizes a darkness for the

woman coming back to it to stare at her reflection. Both of these contribute to the development

of beauty not being everlasting because the poem goes in a more remorseful and melancholious

direction which forces the reader to deeply think and connect on the topic of how

Plath uses personification to outline the task the mirror has been given and elaborate on

how the mirror feels in regards to its task. The mirror”s job is to show the unbiased truth, in this

case, show the true reflection of the person in front of it, also known as the woman. Line four

states, “I am not cruel, only truthful”. Being truthful and not cruel is the trait given to the mirror

that also goes with a comparison to God because as God may do things that seem cruel, there

isn't any ill intent or malice behind the showing of the truth and thats what the mirror is trying to

do. When the woman goes by or stands in front of the mirror, her true self is revealed but her true

self makes her sad. As the mirror divulges her true self, her more young and beautiful self tucks

away and begins to vanish.


The poem describes the life of a young woman growing older as she looks into her

mirror. As stated above, the mirror symbolizes a darkness for the woman. This is because the

woman feels a sense of sadness and emptiness because she is no longer the pretty girl she used to

be. Lines ten and eleven state, “ Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me, Searching my

reaches for what she really is.” The revelation is that the woman's younger self is dead, drowned

by her own hand. Replacing the girl on a daily basis is the face of an old woman, surfacing "like

a terrible fish." (line 18). Beauty obviously was something she valued about herself and when

she observed it fading, it made looking in the mirror more difficult as she realized her beauty

wouldn’t be everlasting.

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