“Mirror” /1961
Sylvia Plath
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 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.
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What thematic commonalities do you find in this pairing? What critical lens can be applied to the works?
1. Create a five (+) sentence academic paragraph with a brief discussion of the relationship between the supplied material.
2. Topic sentence will declare the lens you will use as commentary about the relationship.
(When examing the Sylvia Plath poem "Mirror" with the self-portrait by Frida Kahlo
Dos Fridas a _____ lens can be used.)
3. What defense can you use to explain the common theme?
How does this connect back to the lens?
(Both works utilize a common theme of _____ by the manner they —)
4. Conclude with a statement of your most important observation about the pairing.
Do not conduct outside research. This exercise is based on your personal observations.
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