Mirror Plath

Which two sentences best express possible interpretations of the simile in the last two lines of the poem?

• The woman becomes more terrible each day. 

• The woman’s view of herself makes her grow older. 

• The woman loses a little bit more of her youth when she looks in the mirror. 

• The woman sees her image in the mirror move the same way a fish moves. 

• The woman’s view of her physical self grows more and more negative. 

What single idea is developed throughout the poem? Cite evidence from the poem to support your response. 

This question has two parts. First, answer Part A. Then, answer Part B.
 

______ Part A: Which theme can the reader infer from lines 15–18? 

• Romantic love never lasts. 

• The truth is quickly uncovered. 

• People should reflect on the past. 

• Beauty fading is inevitable. 

Part B:  before the highlighted text from the poem that best supports the answer to Part A.

• I am important to her. She comes and goes. 

• Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness. 

•   in me an old woman/Rises toward her day after day,  

   

• like a terrible fish. 

What does the mirror mean by this statement?

• It really does want to be cruel.

• It really wants to please the woman.

• It really has to try harder to reflect the woman more kindly.

• It cannot do anything else except reflect the woman as she really is.

Who is the speaker in this poem?

• Sylvia Plath

• The poet

• The woman

• The mirror

I am silver and exact is an example of ________

• personification

• imagery

• irony

• none of the above

What extended metaphor is used to compare the mirror to in the second stanza of “Mirror?”

• A cup

• A lake

• A god

• A bowl

All of the following lines are examples of how the mirror is personified in “Mirror,” EXCEPT:

• “Whatever I see I swallow immediately”

• “I think it is part of my heart”

• “Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.”

• “Now I am a lake.”

The mirror in the poem “Mirror” says it is “not cruel, only ______:

• Understanding

• Truthful

• Lying

• Faithful