bster as “writing that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience.” Sylvia Plath is a poet well known for her ability to interact with her readers by putting her own struggles and anxieties into her work. Throughout her life, Plath struggled with severe chronic depression and was deemed unstable at the age of thirteen after locking herself in a basement and attempting suicide. In her early twenties, she struggled to maintain her crumbling family and waning literary career, while her unfaithful husband seemed to be swimming in academic success. In 1961, about two years before her suicide, Plath wrote the poem "Mirror" which reflected the current conflicts in her life and the role of women at that time. In “Mirror,” Plath allows the reader to witness the poignancy of her mind and her twisted sense of humor by showing the relationship between a mirror and her thinking abilities. In this specific work, elements of symbolism and figurative language are used to express the harsh reality of self-criticism....

Navigation