COMPREHENSIVE QUESTION

• Who is the speaker in this poem?

• What figure of speech is used here?

• What does the mirror say about itself ?

• Why does the lady look into the mirror or the lake?

• Is she satisfied with what she observes?

• What does she observe?

CHARACTERISTICS OF A MIRROR

• It has no preconceived notions .

• It is not biased .

• It only reveals the truth .

• It gulps down whatever it sees.

• It has a keen sense of observation.

POETIC DEVICES

(1)Personification

as a person

Eg :- I swallow, I meditate , I think

as a lake

Eg :-I am a lake, bends over me, searching my reaches

(2) Simile

Eg :- Rises towards her day after day like a terrible fish

(3) Metaphor

Eg :- The eye of a little god, four cornered

(4) Alliteration

Eg :- Whatever I see I swallow

Most of the time I meditate

(5) Repetition

Eg :- Faces and darkness separate us over and over

Rises towards her day after day

About the Poetess – Sylvia Plath

American poet and novelist whose best known works are preoccupied with alienation and with death and self destruction. She suffered from severe depression and underwent a period of

psychiatric hospitalization. The anxiety, confusion and doubt that haunted her were transmuted into

verses of great power and pathos.

Who comes in between them?

Who rises towards the woman?

Is she happy? How does she react?

What is there in front of the mirror?

Make a list of all the poetic devices used in the poem.

Write the characteristics of the Mirror.

Why the woman turns to the ‘liars’?