Sanjay Kumar TGT( English) MIRROR By Sylvia Plath Presentation by Sanjay Kumar TGT( English) K.V.Rohtak

DISCUSS IN PAIRS When do you generally use a mirror? Is it possible to do without a mirror? Here is a list of possible reasons why one uses mirror. Tick the ones you agree with. To check one’s appearance To look beautiful To make sure that one is neat and tidy before going out.

CONTINUED To check the face for a pimple or a grey hair To apply make up. To make a phone call. As a decorative item at home Listen to the poem Mirror by Sylvia plath

SYLVIA WITH HER CHILDREN SYLVIA PLATH AS A TEENAGER SYLVIA WITH HER CHILDREN

INTRODUCTION TO THE POET SYLVIA PLATH (1932-1963) was of German origin, and lived in the USA. When she was nine her father died and it profoundly affected her later life, marriage and poetry. She married a renowned poet Ted Hughes in 1956 and had two children. She wrote poetry laden with personal imagery and intense focus. In 1962 after her separation from Hughes she wrote MIRROR. She took her life in 1963. She won a posthumous Pulitzer Prize in 1981 for ‘Collected Poems’ assembled and edited by Hughes.

Mirror I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions Mirror   I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions. Whatever I 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.

ACTIVITY The poem is a monologue. Imagine you are standing in front of a mirror, now deliver a monologue telling the positive as well as negative traits of your personality. Imagine that you are the mirror. Write a speech that you would like to deliver to the humans who come to see their reflections in your depths.

APPRECIATION OF THE POEM STANZA: 1 The poem begins with a mirror describing itself as reflecting images falling on it, with truth and perfection. It is not prejudiced on any account. “I am silver and exact, I have no preconceptions. Whatever I see I swallow immediately Just a s it is, unmisted by love or dislike.”

The mirror takes on itself God-like powers; says it sits meditating on the wall, interrupted only by darkness and faces of ladies whose reflections appear on it. “I am important to her. She comes and goes. Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness”.

The scene shifts to a lake having the same power to reflect honest images. A woman is seen observing her image meticulously. “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.”

Disappointed she turns to the candles and moon in an attempt to hide her flaws in the darkness. The dim light that they exude deceive her into believing she’s young, by hiding her wrinkles. But the lake gives an exact reflection of her face. It is no longer young and fresh. There are signs of ageing. She is upset for she finds it difficult to accept the fact that she is growing old.

“In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman STANZA II The mirror is a very important part of her existence. She misses the youth and beauty of the young girl she once was and now as she looks at her reflection, she sees the signs of old age slowly creeping on to her face day by day, like a terrible fish emerging out of a clear and tranquil lake. “In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman Rises toward her day after day like a terrible fish.”

What are Figures of Speech? Figures of Speech are modes of expression in which words are used out of their literal meaning or out of their ordinary use. This adds beauty or emotional intensity which help to transfer the poet’s sense of impression by comparing or identifying one thing with another that has a meaning familiar to the reader. What are the Figures of Speech in the poem? Metaphor Simile Personification Repetition

DEFINITIONS Metaphor is an implied comparison between two things that are essentially different in order to emphasize a quality that they share. Simile is a comparison using ‘like’ or ‘as’ between two things that are essentially different in order to emphasize a common characteristic. Personification is giving animals, objects or ideas human characteristics. Repetition is where a specific word, phrase or structure is repeated several times to emphasize a particular idea.

The mirror swallows (absorbs) the lady’s reflection. IDENTIFYING FIGURES OF SPEECH IN THE POEM L-2 ‘Whatever I see I swallow immediately’ The mirror swallows (absorbs) the lady’s reflection. The figure of speech used is METAPHOR L-17-18 ‘ .... and in me an old woman Rises towards her day after day like a terrible fish’ The reflection she sees of herself in the mirror shows signs of old age and she compares it to a terrible fish. The figure of speech used is SIMILE

L-18 ‘Rises towards her day after day like a terrible fish’. The repetition of these words emphasis the despair she feels on seeing her lost youth. The figure of speech used is REPETITION L-1 ‘I am silver and exact’. L-10 ‘Now I am a lake’. The poet gives human qualities to inanimate things like the mirror and the lake. The figure of speech used is PERSONIFICATION

HOME ASSIGNMENT – Pick out examples of Personification from the poem. A mirror helps us like a psychotherapist. If you are a stage shy and lack confidence, stand in front of the mirror and speak out your dialogues. Soon, you will see that your inhibitions are gone and you can speak out flawlessly. ‘Are you scared of ageing and graying’? Now write down a few things where you feel a mirror can help you.    

COMPILED BY :- SANJAY KUMAR(TGT ENG.) K.V. ROHTAK