PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Revision
"Mirror" by Sylvia Plath
Identify the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.
1.Which choice best captures the quality of the mirror that is connoted by the poet’s use of the word “swallow” in this line from “The Mirror”?
Whatever I see I swallow immediately.
a. eager
b. monstrous
c. generous
d. courageous
1. Which choice best captures the quality of the mirror that is connoted by the poet’s use of the word “swallow” in this line from “The Mirror”?
Whatever I see I swallow immediately.
a. eager
b. monstrous
c. generous
d. courageous
2. In “Mirror,” the mirror is important because it
a. evokes pleasant memories of the poet’s childhood.
b. was a favorite object in the poet’s room.
c. was given to her by her mother.
d. symbolizes the poet’s self-reflection.
3. In “Mirror,” the metaphor of a mirror as a lake
a. emphasizes the smoothness of the mirror’s surface
b. symbolizes the woman’s transformation from a young girl into an old woman
c. echoes the woman’s tears as she looks at herself in the mirror
d. reinforces the objectivity with which the mirror reflects society.
4. In “Mirror,” the mirror states, “I see her back, and reflect it faithfully.”
In this passage, the use of the word “faithfully” connotes that the mirror views itself as a(n)
a. obedient lover.
b. loyal servant.
c. spiritual guide.
d. kind friend.
5. Which of the following best captures what the mirror implies about the woman’s attitude in the following passage from “The Mirror”?
I see her back, and reflect it faithfully. / She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.
a. She is weak.
c. She is thoughtful.
b. She is delusional.
d. She is ungrateful.
Which of the following passages from “Mirror” is an example of a metaphor?
a. “I am silver and exact.”
b. “[I am] [t]he eye of a little god, four-cornered.”
c. “A woman bends over me.”
d. “She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.”
8. What is significant about the simile contained in these last two lines of “Mirror”?
In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman / Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.
a. It reinforces a sense of the mirrors objectivity in portraying the woman’s image.
b. It evokes the woman’s horror of old age.
c. It shows that the woman has realized that her fears are ridiculous and exaggerated.
d. It expresses the woman’s regrets over the wasted opportunities of her youth
9. “Mirror” is as much about the woman who peers into the mirror as about the mirror itself. What does the poem reveal about the woman?
9. Ans. : The poem reveals that the woman fears aging.
1o. Re-read lines 4-5 of “Mirror” below. Identify the metaphor contained in these lines.
Does this metaphor tell only about the mirror, or about the woman in the poem who looks into it?Explain your answer.
I am not cruel, only truthful--
The eye of a little god, four-cornered.
10. The metaphor is “The eye of a little god, four-cornered.” This metaphor tells about the mirror and the woman. On the one hand, the metaphor talks about the mirror and the godlike powers of perception the mirror has, reflecting whatever appears in it with utter truth. On the other, the metaphor also applies to the woman because it is how she perceives the mirror.
11. What is the significance of the following metaphor, which appears in line 10 of “Mirror?
” Now I am a lake.
11. Ans. : This metaphor reinforces the notion of the mirror as a surface that reflects the appearances of the world.
