Mirror Lake example essay topic

Analysis Of "Mirror' In Analysis Of "Mirror' Essay, Research Paper In the first line of the poem, the mirror says it is? silver and exact.? This can be interpreted many ways. Obviously it is describing what it looks like, but it is saying more than that. The color silver is reflective, and a mirror of course reflects what it sees. Exact, in this case could mean square, but it could also mean a lot more than that. A mirror shows you exactly what it sees; an image is reflected in the silver exactly as it appears.

The mirror does not care if what it reflects is good or bad, as it says it has no preconceptions. Its job is to show you what you are. Mirrors are just a reflection of what we are on the outside, not what we are on the inside. The second line in the first stanza states that the mirror? swallows? whatever it sees. Does this mean the mirror commits the images to memory perhaps for later reference?

If that were so then the poem would be contradictory because this shows some preconception. Perhaps the mirror means that it takes the person who is standing in front of it and swallows what is inside, to leave nothing but what is on the outside for that person to see. This would be a true reflection, because the person cannot see what is on the inside of them through a mirror. The next line in the first stanza is a continuation of the previous line. This line shows a complete lack of caring. The mirror does not care about what it swallows.

Its only concern is to show the person what he looks like. It feels neither love nor dislike for the person it reflects. It is doing its job, and its job is to be truthful. Now we come to the fifth line of the first stanza. The mirror calls itself the? eye of a little god? in reference to being truthful. There are those that believe God never makes mistakes and perhaps the mirror is one of those believers.

The mirror believes itself to be completely truthful in everything it shows. That means there is no mistaking what is seen. If it appears in the reflection, it is there and there is no mistake. The next four lines are perhaps my favorite part of this poem.

They show some emotion in this seemingly unfeeling character. The mirror claims to meditate on the opposite wall. Meditation means to sit and think, which would suggest that the mirror sits there on that wall day after day thinking. To meditate also means to reflect. Reflection is what a mirror does best. So to sit and meditate on the opposite wall means the mirror is reflecting the wall that is opposite it.

The mirror describes what the wall looks like and states that it has looked at this wall for a long time. In the next line, the mirror says that it thinks the wall is part of its heart. This shows feelings for the wall. When someone says something is a part of his heart, it generally means it is something he loves.

Does the mirror love this wall? Or has it simply grown on it, having spent so much time reflecting it. There is another avenue to explore in deciding what the mirror means in this comment. The mirror constantly reflects the wall, so every part of the mirror is consumed with this reflection. If we were to think of the mirror as a person, with a body, where the heart would be you would see the reflection of this wall.

The mirror says it flickers, and a heart could be said to flicker when it beats. When the heart flickers the reflection of the wall has been replaced. The mirror even states in the final line of the first stanza what it is replaced with, faces and darkness. Now we move into the second stanza of this poem. The change in the wording is such that it makes one think it could be its own poem and not any part of the first stanza at all. But together they fit very well and would not give the same impact if they stood alone.

The first line of the second stanza changes the mirror into a lake. My first impression is that the mirror was taken off the wall and placed flat on the floor. Here enters a person, a woman, looking into what was once a mirror, and now a lake. She is searching for something; for what she really is.

This woman does not want to believe that what she is in this reflection is all she is. In the third line she is turning to liars. The candles or the moon could represent friends who lie to make her feel better. People look better when there is darkness, because faults can be hidden in the dark. The woman seeks out this darkness, and the lies. She wants to think she is better than what the lake reflects, than what she truly is.

The lake, ever faithful in its reflection continues to show what is seen, even when the woman has her back turned to it. The lake is only rewarded for its faithfulness with tears and upset. The woman seems too desperate to see herself looking nice and perhaps young, but the mirror will not lie to her. In the sixth line, the lake states that it is important to this woman. Despite it all the woman comes every day to see herself. Everyday she replaces the darkness of the lake.

Perhaps the woman thinks that if she is continuous in seeing the lake she will one day see what she desires. The final two lines are definitely ones for contemplation. The lake says that in it, the woman has drowned a young girl. This makes one think that the girl is dead. If you read this line without reading the rest of the poem, you would think, the woman is a murderer, she has drowned a young girl in the lake. However, if you read on, the girl is not dead, not in the traditional sense of the word.

The girl has grown into the woman, and she does not like it. A terrible fish is the last few words of this poem, and they sum up how this woman is feeling. She is getting old, and she is unhappy. She looks into this mirror-lake everyday hoping to see something better, but everyday it is the same thing, just an ugly fish that rises everyday to live, but nothing more..