Poetry - Mirror Flashcards
“The eye of a little god, four-cornered”
Metaphor emphasises the omniscient nature and divine impartiality of the mirror. It is a symbol of truth.
Short, sharp sentences reflect the mirror’s lack of feelings.
Caesura establishes a matter of fact tone.
“Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.”
The mirror is continuously personified, and the meditation metaphor gives the impression that the object can think.
Slightly ominous - what is the mirror doing the rest of the time?
The personal pronoun ‘I’ echoes through the poem
“I think it is part of my heart. But it flickers.”
Personification ‘heart’ - mirror has become emotionally attached to the wall.
The fact the mirror identifies emotionally makes the reader question its objectivity. It can become attached to the wall and, therefore, attached to judging the woman.
“Now I am a lake.”
The mirror has changed form from an enduring wall into a transient lake. A change in visual state is only possible for the omnipresent mirror. The metaphor suggests depth, fluidity, and reflection.
This is an allusion to Greek mythology, the story of Narcissus, a young man so transfixed by his reflection that he dies.
“Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.”
The simile brings the lake metaphor full circle, the young woman has turned into a fish (something ugly).
The fish can also symbolise the subconscious and how the deeper, unpleasant truths emerge over time.
“Whatever I see I swallow immediately”
“Swallow” acts as a metaphor for reflecting everything. Connotations of water imagery - drowning in your own reflection.
Slightly ominous and threatening tone. Mirror sounds hungry and unforgiving.
What does the structure suggest?
The two stanzas mirror each other and create symmetry.
No consistent meter or rhyme, the mirror is not bound by any perspective. Just reality.
