Interpretation is the revenge of the intellect upon art (с)
Сдуру взялась за халтурку: ребенку для поступления в американскую школу надо написать эссе, ну и все стрелки перевели на меня (я якобы в этом собаку съела). Причем, ребенок уровня-то не ахти, средненького такого, поэтому эссе надо было писать достаточно примитивным языком. Анализ либо стихотворения, либо куска прозы. Взялась за стихотворение (оно классное, кстати, мне уже не раз попадалось)
Sylvia Plath
Mirror
I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
Whatever I see, I swallow immediately.
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike
I am not cruel, only truthful -
The eye of a little god, four-cornered.
Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.
It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long
I think it is a part of my heart. But it flickers.
Faces and darkness separate us over and over.
Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me.
Searching my reaches for what she really is.
Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.
I see her back, and reflect it faithfully
She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.
I am important to her. She comes and goes.
Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.
In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman
Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.
Mirror by Sylvia Plath
I really like this poem because it holds so much truth and it is at the same time beautiful and melancholic. It starts as a riddle as if asking the reader “Who am I?” but unfolds using vivid imagery.
The mirror in itself is cold and its edges are sharp to touch, yet it says, “I am not cruel, only truthful.” When we look into it, we see exactly what there is, without any window-dressing: “I am silver and exact.” The mirror does not judge and it is neutral and impartial: “I have no preconceptions.” All our features are reflected, no matter if they are good or negative: “Whatever I see I swallow immediately”. The narrator compares the mirror to the “little god” because it is as all-seeing as God.
The mirror’s life is monotonous and unchanging: “Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall”, but it seems to be content with such existence and seems not to mind it: “I think it is part of my heart”. However, the monotony is interrupted by “faces and darkness”, which means that people look into it at times and when it gets dark, the mirror can reflect next to nothing.
The second verse is very different from the first one. Unlike the clear, “unmisted by love or dislike” glass, now we see something that has depth (“Now I am a lake”) and hides rather unpleasant truths. First thing in the morning, a woman comes to look at herself and what she finds frightens her. The mirror carefully reflects everything, even the bitterest truths. With each day her youth is further and further away from her (“In me she has drowned a young girl”) and old age is nearer and nearer (“An old woman rises towards her day after day”). The woman cries because she would like to stay young forever, but the process of ageing is unstoppable. She does not want to believe the mirror and addresses candles or the moon, in whose dim light her flaws could be hidden and she might look younger or more beautiful. That is why in the poem they seem to be the symbols of deception, not love. However, she is addicted to the mirror: “I am important to her. She comes and goes.” Like in the first verse, it is “the eye of a little god”, which the woman fears and which has power over her, but unlike God it has no sympathy.
The mirror in this poem is the symbol of truth - impartial, but unsympathetic and even cruel.
Теперь вот думаю - а)достаточно ли примитивно б)сколько денег брать. Потратила часа 2.
Sylvia Plath
Mirror
I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
Whatever I see, I swallow immediately.
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike
I am not cruel, only truthful -
The eye of a little god, four-cornered.
Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.
It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long
I think it is a part of my heart. But it flickers.
Faces and darkness separate us over and over.
Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me.
Searching my reaches for what she really is.
Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.
I see her back, and reflect it faithfully
She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.
I am important to her. She comes and goes.
Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.
In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman
Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.
Mirror by Sylvia Plath
I really like this poem because it holds so much truth and it is at the same time beautiful and melancholic. It starts as a riddle as if asking the reader “Who am I?” but unfolds using vivid imagery.
The mirror in itself is cold and its edges are sharp to touch, yet it says, “I am not cruel, only truthful.” When we look into it, we see exactly what there is, without any window-dressing: “I am silver and exact.” The mirror does not judge and it is neutral and impartial: “I have no preconceptions.” All our features are reflected, no matter if they are good or negative: “Whatever I see I swallow immediately”. The narrator compares the mirror to the “little god” because it is as all-seeing as God.
The mirror’s life is monotonous and unchanging: “Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall”, but it seems to be content with such existence and seems not to mind it: “I think it is part of my heart”. However, the monotony is interrupted by “faces and darkness”, which means that people look into it at times and when it gets dark, the mirror can reflect next to nothing.
The second verse is very different from the first one. Unlike the clear, “unmisted by love or dislike” glass, now we see something that has depth (“Now I am a lake”) and hides rather unpleasant truths. First thing in the morning, a woman comes to look at herself and what she finds frightens her. The mirror carefully reflects everything, even the bitterest truths. With each day her youth is further and further away from her (“In me she has drowned a young girl”) and old age is nearer and nearer (“An old woman rises towards her day after day”). The woman cries because she would like to stay young forever, but the process of ageing is unstoppable. She does not want to believe the mirror and addresses candles or the moon, in whose dim light her flaws could be hidden and she might look younger or more beautiful. That is why in the poem they seem to be the symbols of deception, not love. However, she is addicted to the mirror: “I am important to her. She comes and goes.” Like in the first verse, it is “the eye of a little god”, which the woman fears and which has power over her, but unlike God it has no sympathy.
The mirror in this poem is the symbol of truth - impartial, but unsympathetic and even cruel.
Теперь вот думаю - а)достаточно ли примитивно б)сколько денег брать. Потратила часа 2.