The Full Text of “Mirror”
The Full Text of “Mirror”
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“Mirror” Introduction
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Sylvia Plath wrote "Mirror" in 1961, shortly after having given birth to her first child. Written from the point of view of a personified mirror, the poem explores Plath's own fears regarding aging and death. The mirror insists that it objectively reflects the truth—a truth that greets the woman who looks in the mirror each day as a "terrible" reminder of her own mortality. She searches the mirror for an image that reflects the way she sees herself and feels inside, yet finds only an increasingly older woman staring back. "Mirror" was first published in The New Yorker in 1963 and later appeared in Crossing the Water, which was published posthumously.
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“Mirror” Summary
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The poem is told from the perspective of a mirror, who starts by describing itself physically as silver-colored and precise. The mirror insists it has no predetermined notions or assumptions about anything, and instead simply takes in whatever stands in front of it right away, exactly the way it is, unclouded by any feelings. The mirror isn't mean or harsh, but simply honest. It's like a small god's eye, only with four corners. For the most part, the mirror focuses on the pink, speckled wall that stands across from it. The mirror has been staring at this wall for so long that it thinks the wall is in fact an essential part of itself. At the same time, that wall goes in and out of focus as people and darkness pass in front of it—and into the mirror's line of sight—again and again.
The mirror becomes the reflective surface of a lake over which a woman leans, looking intently into the water's depths for some hint of who she is inside. Not finding it, she directs her attention to the candle she holds or the moon—sources of light that she thinks must be lying to her by not showing her who she really is. The mirror watches the woman's back as she walks away, and reflects it accurately. The woman thanks the mirror by crying and wringing her hands in distress. The mirror knows that it matters a lot to this woman, who comes back to look into it time and again. Every day starts with the woman's face taking the place of the darkness that the mirror reflected all night. The young girl she once was will never look back at her again, having been metaphorically drowned in the mirror. Instead, as the days go by she sees only the old woman she has become approaching her like an awful fish.
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“Mirror” Themes
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Time, Aging, and Mortality
The poem describes a woman seeing herself growing older and older in a mirror each day—or, more accurately, it describes a personified mirror looking on as the women’s youth fades. The woman clearly resents getting older and losing her beauty and youth—two important social currencies for women living in a male-dominated society, especially in Plath’s day. The poem thus illustrates the anguish of aging, as the woman confronts her mortality in the mirror each morning.
The first stanza illustrates the objectivity of the mirror, which is only capable of reflecting what it sees. The mirror describes itself as “the eye of a little god.” Like a god, the mirror sees things exactly as they are. The mirror has no intentions of its own; it has no desire to make the woman feel bad about herself. It doesn’t exist to flatter or insult, but only to reflect appearances truthfully.
The woman, on the other hand, experiences the mirror’s objectivity as a pointed reminder of her own mortality. As time passes, she ages and becomes further removed from her youth while getting ever closer to death. The mirror is “important” to the woman, perhaps because women in particular are so often expected to conform to rigid standards of beauty and youth. Unfortunately, then, the very parts of the woman that patriarchal society deems most valuable are also the parts of her that have a time stamp; they are quickly fading.
Even more upsetting is the question of who she is when these parts of herself fade away. On the inside, the woman is the same person she’s always been, yet as she gazes into her reflection each morning, she sees “an old woman / Ris[ing] toward her, day after day, like a terrible fish.” This description suggests that the woman's reflection is disconcerting, as if the aging process has made her unrecognizable; her changing face feels shocking and unreal. And yet, the mirror insists that it is indeed real. This disconnect between how she feels inside and the harsh reality of the mirror highlights the horror and difficulty of confronting aging and—because aging inevitably leads to death—the idea of mortality.
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-5
- Lines 14-18
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Appearance and Identity
While the poem is told from a personified mirror’s point of view, it’s really about the woman who sees herself in that mirror. This woman is preoccupied with her reflection, hoping to find in it “what she really is.” Even though the mirror itself is objective—in other words, it reflects exactly what stands before it—the woman looking at her reflection still cannot see herself in its image. This, the poem implies, is because people are so much more than what they look like on the surface; the mirror only reflects how things appear, not what they are.
The mirror at first presents itself as being totally neutral when it comes to bouncing images back to its subjects. It is “silver and exact," and doesn’t offer up distorted reflections that are “misted by love or dislike”—that is, reflections that are influenced by feelings. Instead, it presents clear and precise images and has “no preconceptions," meaning that it doesn't have an agenda. It’s not bending its image to tell a certain story, but simply reflects whatever stands before it.
The mirror, then, is trustworthy; one can count on it to tell the truth. The poem suggests that the mirror is “not cruel, only truthful.” This speaks to the fact that although people might not like what they see reflected in the mirror, this isn’t because the mirror is actively trying to hurt them. After all, it is only capable of reflecting what stands in front of it.
But the poem goes on to show the ways that the mirror’s objectivity is only skin-deep, reflecting just the surface of things. The poem metaphorically compares the woman looking in the mirror to a woman bending over a lake to see her own reflection. When she searches for this image, she can’t find “what she really is"—that is, she doesn't gain a true sense of self-understanding. The fact that she isn’t just looking at her reflection in the lake, but “searching [its] reaches” speaks to her longing to find out something important about herself—something the poem implies cannot be found in the mirror, no matter how carefully she looks.
Although the woman searches the "reaches" of the lake-like mirror, the fact remains that all she can see is a surface-level reflection of herself. This implies that, though the woman wants to discover something deeper about herself, appearances can only reveal so much. The mirror might present a seemingly objective representation of how the speaker looks (even reflecting her image "faithfully" when she turns her back), but it will never be able to reveal the whole truth about who she is as a person. There is, after all, much more to people than what meets the eye.
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-5
- Lines 10-11
- Lines 12-14
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Mirror”
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Lines 1-3
I am silver ...
... love or dislike.The poem's speaker is a personified mirror. This becomes clear in the first line, when the speaker says, "I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions." This description immediately lets readers know that the speaker is a literal mirror while also establishing the voice of this mirror, which is direct and straightforward.
This straightforward tone makes sense, as the mirror goes on to say that it "swallow[s] immediately" whatever stands in front of it, consuming it "just as it is." In other words, the mirror isn't capable of embellishment or misdirection—to exaggerate or conceal certain details would go against its very nature. This is because the mirror has no feelings of its own. It is able to provide an "exact" reflection that is untainted by "love or dislike." Unlike a person, the mirror doesn't project feelings onto what it sees. It has no purpose other than to show what is there.
These lines are quite sibilant. Note, for example, the /s/ sounds in the words "silver," "preconceptions," "see," "swallow," "just," "unmisted," and "dislike." The sibilance in this section creates a subtle hissing sound that is pleasing and musical. Although the mirror's overall tone is blunt and straightforward, then, its language sounds poetic and smooth.
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Lines 4-5
I am not ...
... little god, four-cornered. -
Lines 6-9
Most of the ...
... over and over. -
Lines 10-11
Now I am ...
... she really is. -
Lines 12-14
Then she turns ...
... agitation of hands. -
Lines 15-16
I am important ...
... replaces the darkness. -
Lines 17-18
In me she ...
... a terrible fish.
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“Mirror” Symbols
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The Mirror
The mirror in the poem symbolizes a few things at once. Most broadly, it represents the unavoidable reality of aging and mortality. The mirror's repeated insistence that it has no agenda or "preconceptions" emphasizes the fact that it is objective, forcing people to face the insistent, painful truth of growing older and dying.
That the woman doesn't recognize, or doesn't want to recognize, her own reflection in the mirror thus represents her own inability or refusal to accept that truth—to face her own mortality. Though the woman can see herself reflected "exactly" in the mirror, it's clear that something is missing: she can't find "what she really is," no matter how long she looks or how often she returns to the mirror. Her aging appearance doesn't reflect her inner sense of self. Part of the pain of aging, the poem thus implies, is that people may feel that their bodies no longer match up with their true selves.
On a slightly different level, the mirror subtly evokes the unrealistic and unfair expectations forced upon women by a patriarchal society. In Plath's day, women were expected to appear immaculate while also somehow running a household, caring for their husbands, and serving as full-time caretakers for their children. Since the mirror allows the woman to carefully scrutinize herself, it perhaps comes to represent the pressure she feels to look a certain way.
Unfortunately, it seems this pressure has led to a kind of obsession, as the woman returns "each morning" to pour over her own image. And yet, studying herself like this does nothing but frustrate her. The mirror thus represents the dangers of fixating on one's own image and the harmful nature of society's misogynistic expectations.
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Lines 1-5
- Lines 10-11
- Lines 13-18
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“Mirror” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Personification
The poem is told from the point of view of a mirror, so the whole poem is an example of personification. The mirror is made to think and speak like a person, giving voice to an objective account of the woman standing before her own reflection. Through this use of personification, the poem allows the mirror to comment on the woman's discomfort with her own image. This highlights the way women in male-dominated societies often end up objectifying themselves by ruthlessly scrutinizing their own appearances.
The use of personification also draws attention to the limitations of the mirror. While the mirror is indeed "truthful," it is not the whole truth—it can only see, and reflect, whatever's visible. The mirror compares itself to the "eye of a little god," perhaps because of the importance the woman places on it—she returns to it day after day, almost worshiping its ability to reflect her image. Yet, unlike a god, the mirror isn't actually omniscient. In other words, all-seeing isn't the same as all-knowing. The mirror can reflect the woman's outer beauty or her signs of aging, but it cannot reflect or know what makes her valuable; it cannot see her thoughts, beliefs, or feelings.
By personifying the mirror, then, the poem tricks readers (at least at first) into giving an inanimate object more power and agency than it actually deserves. The fact that the mirror speaks directly to readers creates the impression that it is capable of meaningful observation. This illustrates the misplaced faith the women places in the mirror to show her something meaningful about herself. In the end, though, it is nothing but a reflective piece of glass.
Where personification appears in the poem:- Lines 1-18
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Consonance
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Assonance
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Diacope
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Metaphor
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Simile
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Imagery
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Allusion
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Enjambment
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"Mirror" Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Preconceptions
- Unmisted
- Meditate
- Speckles
- Agitation
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(Location in poem: Line 1: “I have no preconceptions”)
An assumption, prejudice, or some other kind of preconceived idea.
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Mirror”
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Form
The poem consists of two nine-line stanzas. Because the first and second stanzas are of equal length, the visual effect of the poem is similar to that of a mirror reflecting an image. The first stanza focuses on the mirror's description of itself and its observations of its surroundings, while the second stanza introduces the woman who looks into the mirror each day. As the mirror stares out at the room, then, the woman stares into it. This creates a feeling of simultaneous separation and attraction that the poem's form mimics, since the stanzas are clearly split from one another but remain connected by their equal lengths and tonal similarities.
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Meter
"Mirror" is written in free verse, meaning that there is no set meter. This lack of meter is part of what makes the poem feel very direct, contributing to the mirror's straightforward, unadorned way of speaking. There's even a flatness to the language that makes sense for the mirror, who—after all—has no depth or dimension: it is just a reflective surface. While many of Plath's poems are characterized by intense sounds and knotted language, this effect is largely absent from this specific poem. Instead of using meter to create a dense and complex overall sound, the poem uses free verse to evoke the "exact," "truthful," and unemotional nature of the mirror.
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Rhyme Scheme
The poem has no rhyme scheme, nor does it use any end rhymes. This overall lack of rhyme, like the lack of meter, contributes to the feeling of directness in the poem. The mirror is matter-of-fact and embellishes nothing. It neither reveals nor conceals, but simply shows what is visible.
There are, however, a few internal rhymes throughout the poem. The words "see" and "immediately" in line 2, for example, create a slant rhyme that leads to a subtly cohesive sound: "Whatever I see I swallow immediately." Similarly, the /ru/ sound in "cruel" and "truthful" creates another internal slant rhyme in line 4: "I am not cruel, only truthful."
In line 8, the mirror uses a more prominent internal rhyme, saying that the wall across the room has become "part" of its "heart." This is the first full rhyme in the poem and thus calls attention to the idea that whatever appears before the mirror actually becomes part of the mirror. On a more basic level, though, this rhyme—along with all of the other internal rhymes—simply adds a small amount of musicality to the poem, which otherwise features a flat, matter-of-fact tone.
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“Mirror” Speaker
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The speaker of this poem is a literal mirror! This becomes apparent early on, since the title is "Mirror" and the speaker describes itself as "silver and exact" and having "no preconceptions." The mirror sees the world (or the little bits of the world that appear in front of it) through an unsentimental "eye." It is like a god that passes judgement on those who stand before it—not out of a desire to be mean, but out of an inability to do anything other than tell the truth.
The mirror claims to have a heart, but since its heart is partially made up of the wall it looks at every day, it's safe to say that this heart isn't like a human heart at all. The speaker doesn't feel passion, sorrow, or fear, but simply reflects whatever happens to be in front of it. And its "faithfulness" to the woman isn't a form of love or duty, but simply a byproduct of the mirror's primary purpose: to reflect everything that comes into its view. As a speaker, then, the mirror is matter-of-fact and objective, providing a straightforward account of what it sees.
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“Mirror” Setting
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"Mirror" takes place in a seemingly domestic setting. The mirror itself is in a pink room "with speckles" on the wall, suggesting that it's possibly in a bedroom or bathroom. The fact that the woman returns to it "each morning" also implies that it's in her home, since it's part of her daily routine.
However, it's difficult to say anything else about the poem's setting, since the mirror can only describe whatever appears in its narrow field of vision. The only concrete details about the surroundings have to do with the opposing wall, the fact that darkness falls every night, and the appearance each morning of the woman's face. Beyond this, the mirror is incapable of telling readers anything about the setting, presenting a very limited point of view that hints at the fact that mirrors can't actually reveal very much about the things they reflect.
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Literary and Historical Context of “Mirror”
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Literary Context
"Mirror" was published in the 1971 posthumous collection of Sylvia Path's poetry, Crossing the Water (though Plath wrote the poem in 1961, shortly before turning 29). Plath is often grouped with other poets of her time, including Anne Sexton, Robert Lowell, and John Berryman. All of these poets wrote from a place of intense personal experience, using poetry to express and explore previously taboo subjects such as mental illness and the struggles of marriage and family life. They are referred to as "Confessional" poets, a term first used by a critic responding to Lowell's collection Life Studies.
Life Studies had a great impact on Plath, as did Sexton's poetry. Both Lowell and Sexton tore away the masks and pretenses typically associated with lyric poetry, instead opting for immediacy, vulnerability, and directness. Where poets had previously tried to create "universal" poems that many people would find relatable, the Confessional poets dug deep into the personal and the specific. They only tried to speak for themselves. In doing so, they ended up creating poetry that is arguably even more relatable because it speaks to the private thoughts and insecurities that most people have from time to time.
This approach was groundbreaking in the 1960s because it shattered the illusion of decorum so insisted on by society. By rupturing these norms, Confessional poets exposed the underbelly of polite American life. The impact of Confessionalism on American poetry can't be overstated, and its reverberations can still be felt in contemporary poetry.
Historical Context
Plath entered adulthood in the United States during the 1950s, a period characterized by many repressive social norms and a return to traditional family values in the wake of World War II. From a young age, Plath bristled against expected gender roles, resenting the idea that she was expected to marry, have children, and give up her own ambitions—all expectations that were common in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when Plath wrote "Mirror."
The male-dominated, patriarchal culture during the 1950s and '60s also put an enormous amount of pressure on women to look young and beautiful. The cultural expectation was that women must maintain their physical appearances while also caring for their husbands and children. There was, then, very little room for personal ambition and independence, both of which Plath tried to retain after marrying in 1956 and having her first child in 1960.
"Mirror" captures the poet's unease regarding the stifling standards women faced in American society during this period. The woman who stares in the mirror is subject to the era's patriarchal expectations, and this is most likely why she breaks into tears each morning after looking in the mirror—seeing her own reflection reminds her that she's aging, and this goes against the unforgiving, sexist, and unrealistic standards to which society holds her.
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More “Mirror” Resources
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External Resources
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A Reading of the Poem — Hear the poem read aloud.
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An Interview with Plath — An interview with the poet by Peter Orr for the BBC, in which she talks about her influences and process.
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Mirrors and Women — A brief essay by Neve Akridge about the significance of mirrors in women's literature
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The Poet's Voice — Check out this recording of Plath reading a selection of her earlier poems, most of which were featured in The Colossus, her only book published during her lifetime.
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Biography and Poems — An overview of Sylvia Plath's life and work, along with a number of her poems to explore.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Sylvia Plath
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