When you get all you want and you struggle for self, and the world makes you king for a day, then go to the mirror and look at yourself. This is the first poem i have ever shared with anyone other than a few lucky ducks who will have heard some compulsory ramblings in my school years. In this debut novel by james, the woman in the mirror, she transports us to the rugged cliffside of cornwall, england during 1947, as well as presentday, and into a family manor where powerful emotions swirl, tragic memories reside. She considered literature the exploration of the self, as exemplified by the strange psyche at. Delving deep down into my depths she seems to be searching for her beauty and youth that time has robbed her of. For it isnt your father or mother or friends, whose judgment upon you must pass. Mirror explores the life of a woman as an object reflected within it. Instead, she looks into a mirror, which reflects the busy road and the. Poem about figuring out who you are, the man in the mirror.
Debras soulbaring poem, innocence lost received a lot of recognition in social media. Secondly, relation between any two beings, to show relations have ups and downs. The first stanza talks from the viewpoint of a personified mirror. Sylvia plaths poem mirror, written sometime between 1960 and 1961, actually contains not one, but many metaphors implicit comparisons between two seemingly different things.
Though the woman occasionally deludes herself with the flattering liars candlelight and moonlight, she continually returns to the mirror for the truth. At the opening of the poem, the mirror recalls the reflection of the. I have no idea who she is, where she came from, or how she got in. Then i stopped and looked closer into the department store mirror. Plath suffered from depression most of her life and, perhaps, often felt more sympathy toward the mirror than to the face reflected within. It danced across her tongue,singing to me,my name and her love all at once. A poem written from the point of view of a mirror is practically required to be, to some extent, about appearances. The mirror in this extract of the poem imagines itself to be lake and says that it finds a woman looking into me very closely. The source of problem in this poem is the woman s absolute reliance on the mirror s. The mirror watches a womans youth pass her by, and it appears that. The mirror serves as a vivid portrayal of women s life and stride through a very reliable persona, the mirror. Over the years, the woman has drowned a young girl in the mirror, and now sees in her reflection an old woman growing older by the day. See this 92yearold woman recite heartwarming poem about.
Sylvia plaths mirror is a poem which deals intimately with the idea of women searching for distinctions between the real self and the false. The woman looks at herself in the mirror each morning, so reliant has she. People tell me i am such a nice guy, yet i have a very hateful and sometimes violent side to me that only a few have seen. The poem can be regarded as a retrospective investigation of the self through unmisted eyes. The woman in the mirror poem by donna pelan poem hunter. The woman in the mirror a poem by darkserenade all poetry. The whole world, in a sense, is a mirror holding up a womans transient beauty to her. Trs life shows us that hard work, tenacity, and a desire to do the right thing can get you far in life. The symbolism of mirrors in literature mirrorworld blog. So many troubles life has been all wrong the woman in the mirror still sings a happy song.
I see on the side, a woman that walks with great stride, has large potential and much pride, while the other woman is the one with the despair and no stride, she just chooses to hide and ponder whether she should live. The woman in the mirror by cathryn grant is a mystery and thriller and general fiction adult read. Analysis of the poem mirror analyzing the works of. This part of the poem is crucial, for we discover the mirror s aim. And the world makes you queen for a day, just go to the mirror and look at yourself, and see what that woman has to say.
Whereas, the second concentrates on the life of a woman where the mirror assumes the role of a lake. The poem is divided into two stanzas with the first one establishing the nature of the mirror as truthful, honest and impartial. What the mirror reflects is not the simple beauty the woman wants to see but a complex set of other images, more mysterious and more expressive of anxiety. Many of plaths poems deal with the complexities of defining womanhood and existing in a female space. The poem describes the life of a young woman growing older as she looks into her mirror. This facet of the poem displays how, without the woman, there is no corruption. The girl in the glass when you get what you want in your struggle for self, and the world makes you queen for a day, just go to the mirror and look at yourself, and see what that girl has to say.
Sat, 2008 the woman in the mirror is no doubt ageing and it is believed that the mirror has accompanied her since young age, observing her growth, and reflecting her withers and languishes to an old one. When you get what you want as your struggle for self. Reflections of self and other in sylvia plaths mirror. The most challenging aspect of this post was taking a photo of a woman in a mirror. But your final reward will be heartache and tears if youve cheated the woman in the glass. All i know is that one day she wasnt there and the next day she was. In the most memorable section of his citizenship in a republic speech, roosevelt captured his life philosophy in just a few sentences. The woman in the mirror, a poem by virginia young, usa.
The freeverse poem tells the story of a woman who continuously looks at her reflection first in a mirror and then in a lake. She comphrends the world she is in without dissociating her personality, the mirror became just her characteristiscs keeper, later i can observe her selfappreciation when the mirror is replace by a lake her personality had acquire a larger view of her achievements. The woman needs the mirror to provide her with an objective, unadulterated reflection of self, even though it is often discomfiting, causing her tears and an agitation of hands. It just about dripped from her lips, sparkling on the edges of her eyelashes. The girl in the glass really wont care if you cant look her straight in the eye shes the person to please never mind all the rest for shes with you clear to the end and youve passed the most dangerous test if the girl in the glass is your friend you may fool the world down the pathway of years and get pats on the back as you pass. The woman in the mirror no one sees her grief she learned to. The entire poem is told by the mirror itself, meaning that personification is used throughout the poem because most mirrors lack the ability to talk excepting, of course, the mirror is snow white. The woman in the mirror the woman in the mirror i always see a smiling face no matter what life dishes out she still has poise and grace. Sylvia plaths mirror is a poem told from the point of view of the mirror. The mirror interacts with this mature face in a more complex way, and the image of the woman s back, her agitation, her dependency on the mirror, all express anxiety and disappointment.
In line 12, the mirror calls the moon and candles liars. Thank god i didnt pass out in the middle of the cosmetic aisle. When i pass a mirrorand catch you watching me im stricken with the strangest chill. We have also corrected what we believed to be a spelling mistake in the word pelf to self. The woman in the mirror reflect now, and here i do see, one side the woman i am now, and on the other half the one i used to be. Words such as swallow, meditate, and phrases such as part of my. A 92yearold woman from oregon is winning hearts all over the internet after her caregiver shared a video of her reciting a heartwarming poem she wrote years ago. It uses the titular mirror as its central symbolic device. Poem on getting older, the mirror family friend poems. Okay, it is a photo of a woman in a picture, in a mirror, but i assure you it was no easy task. For it isnt your father or mother or husband whos judgement upon you must pass. Once considered a taboo subject, she opened up the lines of communication regarding sexual abuse.
The mirror believes it is important to the woman, and so it appears relentlessly. A woman at our church shared this poem in a sermon that she gave last night. We have since located the true owner and author of the poem which we incorrectly titled, like so many others, the man in the mirror. This lovely and eloquent woman of 92 wrote this poem i am sharing with you. The mirror was written by sylvia plath in 1961 but wasnt published until 1971, eight years after her death by suicide. An analysis of mirror by sylvia plath literature essay samples. Along her required journey she is faced with obstacles, such as herself and time ticking. The authors use of the mirror as the main character gives an interesting perspective to the poem describing the aging of a woman, presumably the. One poem gave many of her readers the courage to tell others of their own. The woman in the poem is no longer a young, beautiful woman.
Mirror by sylvia plath poem analysis a database of. Barbara is a passionate writer and animal lover who has been professionally blogging for over 10 years. The woman in the mirror poem by mary nagy poem hunter. The man in the arena tells us that the man we should praise is the man whos out there. Or are they a symbol of secret hurts, that clouded my ability to be.
The movement of the personified mirror to being a lake signifies the change which takes place in the woman seen in the mirror. I have long struggled with what kind of person i am. What is the theme of the poem mirror by sylvia plath. The woman in the mirror poem by monique m mcdowell on. Once we take the time to look in the mirror, it is a startled realization about the facts we must face. The deity has control of the human, which is how traditional stories often pan out. Constantly, i am asking myself, where is the line between the two. In lines 1718, the image of the aging woman is compared to a terrible fish. This mirror tells us repeatedly about how accurate and unbiased it is in showing appearances which doesnt work out so well for the aging woman in the second stanza, who seems very concerned with the way that she looks. Am i really just a chameleon, who faithfully changes, from mother to lover to wife. In this poem, the great victorian poet christina rossetti 183094 describes how the passing of time and the fact that all things must pass is particularly galling for women, since it reminds them how their beauty must fade. I was supposed to look youngcoolin my designer duds. Woman and mirror, painting by the french artist francine van hove. Sylvia plaths poem mirror is about a women maturing with time and her mirror is witness to her aging and her journey to finding herself.
This poem by sylvia plath symbolizes the troubled self of the woman, who has had to reject the given masks imposed on her by the patriarchal society and see herself as an individual. In the first stanza the mirror tells us about itself and describes its experiences. Noreen palmer describes herself as sweet and responsible, but she cant stop lying about why she destroyed the mirror, about her broken love affair, about the things that happened in her bungalow. Comments about the woman in the mirror by mary nagy brian dorn 922006 1. The woman in the mirror is you and me the woman in the mirror who will she see she sees her daddy who set her free the woman in the mirror is weak but strong who is this woman who god leads on she is a woman who god one day changed her life for a better way a woman god knew she would always be, not just a woman but a leader you see.