When was mirrors by sylvia plath published

Meanwhile, each time she looks into the lake old age and death rise toward "like a terrible fish" line Point of View. Plath wrote the poem in first-person point of view. The speaker is a mirror, which tells the reader what it reflects. In the second stanza, it becomes a lake. For further information see Summary , above. Verse Form. The poem is in free verse, a type of poetry with rhythms based on words patterns rather than meter such as iambic pentameter. Gustave Kahn and other French poets pioneered this verse form in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Text of the Poem. However, a book entitled Poetry Reloaded , by Blair Mahoney, has reproduced the poem with permission of the publisher. You can access the page on which the poem appears by clicking here. Notes and Comments. Line 1 , I am silver and exact : The word silver here refers to the coating on the back of a glass mirror. She committed suicide in at the age of 29 years old. She is generally labelled as a « Confessional Poet » as her poetry depicts her personal states of mind, emotions and pains, imbued with « unconsciousness material.

She was also considered a feminist author. Her main themes cover gender, motherhood and marriage, betrayal and suicidal illness. Characterized by an imaginative intensity, most of her poems deal with suffering and death. From the personal, her poetry rises to the universal, with an acute portrayal of the general human condition. She considered literature aimed at the exploration of the self, as exemplified by the strange psyche at work in her poems. She explained her creative process based on the reworking of her inner feelings as follows: « I think my poems immediately come out of the sensuous and emotional experiences I have, but I must say I cannot sympathise with these cries from the heart that are informed by nothing except a needle or a knife, or whatever it is.

I believe that one should be able to control and manipulate experiences, even the most terrifying — like madness, being tortured, this sort of experience — and one should be able to manipulate these experiences with an informed and an intelligent mind. This poem is a lyric consisting of two equal stanzas containing nine lines each.

It is written in free verse, which means that it has no set pattern of rhythm of stressed and unstressed syllables. However, Plath mingles various chiming effects, like sounds, repetitions and rhymes to create rhythm and convey various themes and impressions. In the first stanza, which is an introduction of the mirror by itself, we notice the repetition of the personal pronoun « I » at the beginning of lines 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8 : this is an anaphora.

By emphasizing the first person, representing the mirror which is the speaker the author personifies this inanimate object. This personnification is also marked by other literary devices such as a sensory language that makes the mirror very lively : he can « see », « swallow » line 2 , « look at » line 7 , « medidate » line 6 or « think » line 8.

However, it claims itself as insensitive : « unmisted by love or dislike » line 4 and « not cruel, only truthful » line 5. The mirror claims to embody a perfect objectivity and rationality. But this is partly because so much of her work drew on her life for its subject-matter, especially her unflinching analysis of her own struggles with her mental health.

Born in the United States, Plath moved to England in the s, where she met fellow aspiring poet Ted Hughes, whom she quickly married. It was the publication of a posthumous collection, Ariel , in edited by her widower, Ted Hughes which really helped to ensure she was regarded as one of the greatest and most original voices in Anglophone poetry of the mid-twentieth century.

Two further posthumous collections, Crossing the Water and Winter Trees , followed in Plath attended a creative writing class led by the poet who helped to initiate the Confessional movement, Robert Lowell, in the late s. Even when writing autobiographically, the experience is veiled in many textual layers, and allusion is one of the key factors.

Enter your email address to subscribe to this site and receive notifications of new posts by email. A supisicous eye You see, maybe the negative, but some people believe thinking negative is being real. Youve felt the embrace of another human being so you are not alone.

I have to to believe their is a twist to your personality. The peom itself is a beautifull one to describe all this and the word are magnificant. Great job Mysticsky - We had this poem to learn in our 10th grade English text book!

FaeRae - This was beautiful and stunning, left me wanting AN! You remind me of how I write sometimes, a little catharsis, some metaphor, a dash of reality and mystery.

Very well written! Rissa C - 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 This is where I choked Powerful image. Tragic, beautiful and very very real. Together Forever - Sylvia Plath was such a talented writer.

This poem is amazing as it creatively presents the point of view of the mirror. Love this. Found this cool analysis of this poem during an online web search It was first deployed during the Soviet-Afghan War. DServant Mendes - Beautiful and intelligently written, the personification is exceptional, I am in awe, very impressive.

Sonshine - First l love how this poem goes. Without saying the word mirror YOU describe it beautifully. Who am I? Your poem explains exactly who you are. If l was a mirror this is what l would see. Thank you so much. Hopefully some day l will have more understanding in all this! Great work. Sonshine - Awesome poem.

I love the line, "Whatever l see l shallow immediately. June Johnson - Plath is dead Sonshine - Yes, how sad. Cillible - Whoa. But I think suffocate and drown go hand in hand. Sands of time. But the mercurial appearance of mirror glass. I'll think on these syllable's all day.

Balavisweswarara - Beauty ,age,life all are ever changing but The time is timeless. Socialpeach - Thank you Remarkable. Your poetry will be read for years to come. Dorissmith - deep. Dorissmith - pain in memories live in that which was and the now that is. Marco Dellorusso - Fantastic poem. She was a beautiful writer. RobertRichard - You go girl! Oh you already have Kris Prevel - Absolutely love this poem.

Cbrownie - Beautiful! Nancy Nelson - I like her poems, but truly do not understand them. Too bad she didn't live longer