“Mirror” by Sylvia Plath

Oksana VeresPeriod 4

English 9A

https://www.google.com/search?q=sylvia+plath&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=jI6IU8LPJMXy8QGU_oCoDQ&sqi=2&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=673#facrc=_&imgdii

Plath’s Life• Born: October 27, 1932 in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts• Died: February 11, 1963 in London, EnglandFamily • Her father, Otto Emil Plath, was a professor and German

immigrant & mother, Aurelia Schober Plath, was his former student, 20 years younger than him

• Otto died in 1940 when Sylvia was 8 years old • Married Ted Hughes, a fellow student she meets at Newnham

College later on in life Schooling • Attended Smith College where she studied vigorously

became infatuated with academic achievement and social success

• Later went to Newnham College in Cambridge, England

Influence/Inspiration• Her father’s death significantly impacted her poetryDepression & Anxiety• Suffered from anxiety and recurrent depression

throughout her life influenced her dark sense of poetry

• Went to electroshock therapy, but increased her anxiety• August 1953 – failed attempt at suicide • Her husband was unfaithful & they got divorced• Moved away from him with her 2 kids to London • Continued to suffer with depression & anxiety till

committing suicide in 1963

Theme• Plath tends to write about herself; on her personal

experiencesCommon Themes• In her poems, themes often revolve around: - Death (her father’s death, wanting to die, etc.) - Victimization (she felt like a victim to the men in her life: father, husband, etc.) - Patriarchy (wrote about how women weren’t treated fairly in the 50s/60s - The beauty of nature - The self (personal demons, internal struggles, etc.)

Continued…Theme of “Mirror”• Aging is inevitableThis poem’s theme is similar to others Plath has written because it is about identity/searching for oneself, a common topic in her work. • She writes so much about her personal life,

based from her anxiety & depression anticipating the future is a huge component of anxiety

Poetic Devices• “I am silver and exact. I have no

preconceptions.”: personification – personifying mirror with human characteristics/ability

• “Whatever I see, I swallow immediately.” : metaphor – a mirror can’t actually swallow something, Plath is describing how a mirror shows every part of you

• “I am not cruel, only truthful” : oxymoron – Plath uses cruel & truthful as if they were opposites, although they’re not