Concetti Chiave
- The collection "Crossing the Water" was published posthumously in 1971 and features poems influenced by poets like Yeats, Auden, and Eliot.
- Plath's poetry in this collection explores themes of the unknown and the unconscious, often using vivid and painterly imagery.
- "Mirror" is characterized by its precise and truthful voice, likening the mirror to a small deity observing without bias.
- The poem reflects on themes of identity and self-perception, as a woman searches for her true self in the mirror's reflection.
- The imagery of transformation in "Mirror" captures the passage of time and the inevitable aging process.
What does Crossing the Water signify?
The poem "Mirror" appeared for the first time in Crossing the Water, published posthumously in 1971. The collection includes works set in different locations, some real and some others are rather imaginary, written in the early 1960s. The influence of great poets such as Yeats, Auden, and Eliot is evident in this poem, together with extended references to Shakespeare, folklore and classical mythology.
Themes
The poems in this collection represent Plath's effort to come to terms with the unknown and the unconscious and they have often been defined as visual and painterly as they are characterized by starling images recalling the artists Plath, such as Gauguin, De Chirico, Brueghel and Klee.
Mirror
I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
Whatever you see I swallow immediately
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.
I am not cruel, only truthful---
The eye of a little god, four-cornered.
Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.
It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long
I think it is a part of my heart. But it flickers.
Faces and darkness separate us over and over.
Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me,
Searching my reaches for what she really is.
Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.
I see her back, and reflect it faithfully.
She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.
I am important to her. She comes and goes.
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.
Domande da interrogazione
- What is the significance of the poem "Mirror" in Sylvia Plath's collection "Crossing the Water"?
- How does Sylvia Plath incorporate visual and painterly elements in her poetry collection "Crossing the Water"?
- What themes are explored in the poem "Mirror" from the collection "Crossing the Water"?
"Mirror" is a key poem in "Crossing the Water," reflecting Plath's exploration of the unknown and the unconscious. The poem is characterized by vivid imagery and themes of self-reflection and truth, influenced by poets like Yeats, Auden, and Eliot, as well as classical mythology and folklore.
Plath's poems in "Crossing the Water" are described as visual and painterly, featuring startling images reminiscent of artists like Gauguin, De Chirico, Brueghel, and Klee. These elements help convey her efforts to grapple with the unknown and the unconscious.
The poem "Mirror" explores themes of truth, self-reflection, and the passage of time. It presents the mirror as an unbiased observer, reflecting the woman's search for identity and the inevitable aging process, symbolized by the transformation from a young girl to an old woman.
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