Mirror - Method and Madness - Essay Example

I will look at the stylistic devices in more details to bring out the characters used and what the author talks about in the poem. In the poem, the author uses characterization uniquely considering how short the poem is and that the only person the mirror talks about is the woman. He shows the different state the woman is in when she uses the mirror and the author uses short words to accomplish this. For example, he makes the readers understand the emotions the woman is experiencing using very few words (Butscher, 2003).

This way the reader comprehends better the trait of the woman as the author portrays it. For example in line 14, “.rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.” This shows how the woman is not happy and that she uses the mirror to pity her situation. The author uses other words to describe the same woman that show different moods and situations. For example, line 16,”… Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness” shows that the woman uses the mirror on a daily basis.

The second last line, shows that the woman used the mirror all her life. This is because the author uses keywords like from a ‘young woman’ and ‘an old woman’. These words in the phrase show the transition the mirror has seen the woman take. She has moved from being a, young beautiful, girl with many different emotions to an old woman. The last line shows how the transition of the woman has not been a nice thing. The author achieved this by using phrases like, “…Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.

” I believe that the character of the woman and the tough life she experienced are made clear by using the characterization element. This is because of the use of some words by the mirror to describe the state of the woman. Some of the lines make one see what the woman observes upon looking at the mirror; self pity. This is brought out clearly when she cries and touches her face in distress. It is as if she looks back at what happened, and this makes her cry. As the poem goes on the mirror talks of seeing the woman from a girl to an aged woman.

The tone used to express this shows that the mirror has nothing good to say of the woman. This shows that she did not have a happy life from the time she was a young girl she experienced terrible things. The author uses personification to give the mirror life so that it can express itself. The mirror defines itself in the first stanza as not being cruel but truthful (Sauk, 2004). This mirror now has the characteristics of a human being like feeling, expressing itself and talking. However, unlike human beings it does not lie to protect a person from pain.

That is why it shows clearly that the truth can be rough and painful, but that does not mean the mirror is cruel. The mirror when talking about the truth it does not show its opinion but gives the truth as it is. This trait distinguishes it from human beings as they easily judge people from what they observe. Therefore, the mirror does not adjust the image and only presents it as it is. The personification of the mirror gives it a voice as it usually just reflects what it sees without making any changes.

The author gives the mirror a voice so that it can express its own feelings about the images it reflects. Like in the last stanza, the mirror share its feelings about the life the woman was living (Butscher, 2003).