The mirror reflects the true image of the woman to. Time is just included as a word in the phrase most of the time, but at least we know that for the mirror, time does pass, even if the mirror isnt changed by it. While sylvia might sound a little bit like silver, were pretty sure from this firstperson declaration that plath isnt the speaker in this poem. May 23, 2011 the magic mirror by sylvia plath sylvia plath graduated smith college with honors in june 1955. Jun 29, 20 line by line summary of mirror by sylvia plath mirror is written in blank verse and is divided into two stanzas. Artists such as chantal akerman and sylvia plath, both of whom came of age in midtwentieth century america, have a tendency to show concern with doubles in their worktoni morrisons beloved, maya derens meshes of the afternoon, cheryl dunyes the watermelon womanand oftentimes situate their protagonists as doubles of themselves, carefully monitoring the distance they create.
This mirror has, over time, been privy to the tears of a woman over who she sees in it, desperate grasps at moonlit lies, and the endless speculations of a pink with speckles wall. Within this poem, there is a clash between truth and perception. Sylvia plath wrote the poem in 1961, just two years before her actual. However, since an object can not both be a mirror and a lake, this leads me to believe that they are instead a metaphor for something else. Wadsworth, 2006 680 is that the speaker in the poem is the mirror and the woman in the poem is sylvia plath. The mirror serves as a vivid portrayal of womens life and stride through a very reliable persona, the mirror. It was published byfaber and faber eight years after her death in 1971 as part of thecollection crossing the water. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for two of her published collections, the colossus and other poems and ariel, as well as the bell jar, a semiautobiographical novel published shortly before her death. Coyne walks readers through some of the themes explored in sylvia plaths the bell jar, tracing it back to inquiries that plath raised in her senior thesis at smith college in 1954. Uncanny suicides, from sylvia plath to chantal akerman. Sylvia plath is so ingrained in popular literary culture that her mythical. I am not cruel, only truthful mirror sylvia plath the eye of a little god, fourcornered. 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.
I am silver and exact, i see her back, and reflect it faithfully, these descriptions follow the definition of a mirror. October 27, 1932 february 11, 1963 was an american poet, novelist, and shortstory writer. Sylvia plaths recurrent employment of the images of mirror, moon, and candles indicates. In january 1955, she submitted her thesis, the magic mirror. This is the first glimpse of the concept of time that we get in this poem.
The poem mirror by sylvia plath is told from the point of view of a mirror hanging up on a wall. Born in 1932 to middle class parents in jamaica plain, massachusetts, sylvia plath published her first poem at the age of eight. She had spent her senior year working on a special honors thesis which she titled. A study of the double in two of dostoyevskys novels. The overall meaning of the poem mirror pen and the pad. In the ensuing years her work attracted the attention of a multitude of readers, who saw in her singular verse an. Mans tendency to dismiss the inevitable truth about his declining age and waning attractiveness is the central idea in the poem mirror. In the ensuing years her work attracted the attention of a multitude of readers, who saw in her singular verse an attempt to catalogue despair, violent emotion, and obsession with death. Whatever i see i swallow immediately just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike. How sylvia plaths rare honors thesis helped me understand my. In essence, the appearance of the double is an aspect of mans eternal desire to solve the enigma of his own identity. The narrator, that is the mirror, begins by saying that it is silver and exact.
The magic mirror by sylvia plath sylvia plath info. A sensitive person who tended to be a bit of a perfectionist she was what many would consider a model daughter and student popular, a straight a student, always winning the best prizes. Jul 09, 20 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. Jun 09, 2015 mirror, a poem from crossing the water published 1971 by sylvia plath 19321963. Jul 21, 2017 sylvia plath s poem mirror, written sometime between 1960 and 1961, actually contains not one, but many metaphors implicit comparisons between two seemingly different things. She had spent her senior year working on a special honors thesis which she. Essay on analysis of sylvia plaths mirror 1289 words cram. The magic mirror by sylvia plath sylvia plath graduated smith college with honors in june 1955.
But, also at times implies that the speaker is a mirror. In the magic mirror, plath hypothesises that the literary phenomenon of the double is related both to contradictions in mans character and to the complex. Background of the poem the poem was written by sylvia plath in 1961. In mirror, poet sylvia plath skillfully mixes a number of metaphors into the text along with the major literary device she employs, personification. By seeking to read the riddle of his soul in its myriad. Along her required journey she is faced with obstacles, such as herself and time ticking. Sylvia plath bibliography sylvia plath was born on october 27, 1932 in boston, massachusetts. Plath suffered from depression most of her life and, perhaps, often felt more sympathy toward the mirror than to the face reflected within. A c18 sextant named j watkins, an old wooden quadrant restored, a turnofthecentury french sextant, a halfsize sextant by lefebvrepoulin, a fine sextant by spencer, browning and co, a c19 sextant restoration, making a keystone sextant case, restoring a c. The freeverse poem tells the story of a woman who continuously looks at her reflection first in a mirror and then in a lake. A jungian alchemical reading nephie christodoulides, university of cyprus in this paper i propose a new reading of sylvia plaths honor thesis the magic mirror, a reading which, like the idol in a magic mirror demonstrating a disturbance. By the time she took her life at the age of 30, plath already had a following in the literary community.
Analysis of sylvia plaths mirror sylvia plath is known as the poet of confession. Mirror by sylvia plath was composed in 1961, just before plaths twentyninth birthday, two years before her suicide. Sylvia plath was one of the most dynamic and admired poets of the 20th century. Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike i am not cruel, only truthful. Sylvia plaths poem, mirror, symbolizes the troubled self of the woman, especially the woman artist who has to reject the given masks imposed on her by the patriarchal society and see herself as an artist and an individual. What is the central idea of sylvia paths poem mirror.
The mirror imagery in plaths poetry, therefore, signifies the. Her first volume of poetry, the colossus, was released in 1960 but shes best known for the publication of ariel in 1965. I am not cruel, only truthful the eye of a little god, fourcornered. Jun 29, 20 in the second stanza, sylvia plath introduces a new element to the poem.
She changes the narrator from the rectangular mirror, meditating on the opposite wall, to a lake. Reflections of self and other in sylvia plaths mirror imagery. While living in winthrop, eightyearold plath published her first poem in the boston heralds childrens section. Return to article details sylvia plaths the magic mirror. Poetry explication of sylvia plaths mirror the first thing one can notice in sylvia plaths poem mirror rpt. Pdf mind over myth the divided self in the poetry of sylvia plath. Sylvia plath graduated smith college with honors in june 1955. The mirror was written by sylvia plath in 1961 but wasnt published until 1971, eight years after her death by suicide. What do the mirror and the lake represent in mirror by. This idea is first presented through the form of the stanzas where the mirror is silver and exact plath 1 then when the mirror is now a lake 10. She uses poetry as a way to confess her feelings, to express and release her pain in life.
Analysis of the poem mirror analyzing the works of sylvia. Its on microfilm at the smith college library and there should be a copy in smiths plath collection. It appeared in plaths posthumously published collection crossing the water. Embers handpress press collection library of congress the magic mirror was submitted by sylvia plath in partial fulfillment of the requirements of special honors in english when she was a student at smith college, northampton, massachusetts, in 1955. Sylvia plath was an american poet, novelist, and shortstory writer. Instead, the poem lets us know from the start that were hearing from a.
Nov 15, 2015 the relationship between the mirror and the woman is uneasy and almost abusive in sylvia plaths poem mirror by sylvia plath. In mirror by sylvia plath, the speaker in the poem says, now i am a lake. Words such as swallow, meditate, and phrases such as part of my. This poem is not a riddle, speaking with the voice of some mysterious i until the end, where the reader is shocked to find out that its a mirror, and not a person speaking. Introduction the problem of the double personality has been of central concern to man from primitive times to the present. The duality that sylvia plath wrote about in her thesis provides the basis for the personality of esther, the protagonist of plaths the bell jar. Is a metaphor found in the poem mirror by sylvia plath. May 30, 2015 its on microfilm at the smith college library and there should be a copy in smiths plath collection. A study of the double in two of dostoevskys novels. The book did not actually provide much analysis or. Mirror was written two years before plath committed suicide in 1963. Though sylvia plath never realized her youthful wish to walk into the mirror like alice plath. The mirror spends most of its time meditating on, or thinking about, the opposite wall. We know mirrors dont talk but that just makes us more curious about what this mirror is going to say.
So, what do the mirror and the lake represent in the poem. Or you can download it in pdf here, if youre willing to. Plath an american poet, novelist and short story writer. Sylvia plath was a twentieth century american writer and poet, born in 1932. The thesis, coyne tells us, is titled the magic mirror.
Hence, although the narrators form has changed, its function hasnt. A jungian alchemical reading download download pdf. What is the best way to find sylvia plaths senior thesis. Mirror by sylvia plath is a poem narrated from the perspective of a mirror. Kelly coyne captures sylvia plaths magic poetry foundation. If youre not near northhampton massachusetts, or unable to get permission to see it, there were copies printed in book form in the 1980s, but t. The first stanza talks from the viewpoint of a personified mirror.
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