Sylvia Plath-The Mirror
Sylvia Plath Mirror |
Sylvia Plath Mirror I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions. What ever you 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. VOCABULARY PRECONCEPTION a belief or opinion you have already formed before you know the actual facts; SWALLOW to make food go down your throat and towards your stomach; FLICKER to burn or shine with an unsteady light that goes on and off quickly; DROWN to die from being under water for too long. COMPREHENSION TEST Who is the speaker? What kinds of reflections are described? What are they symbols of? Who has drowned in this poem? What does fish represent? Is the voice in this poem masculine or feminine or androgynous? |