Question

Consider the last two lines of the poem again. Why do you think the old woman sees herself as a terrible fish? Why did she choose to compare her to a fish? Why do you think she chose to use the word "terrible"? Write your answer in two hundred words.
my response: The mirror narrates this poem, and so it is personified in this way. However, when the mirror compares itself to a lake, saying, "I am a lake," this is example of metaphor. The mirror explains, in the final lines, "In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman / Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish." In other words, "she" -- the woman -- has watched her youth slowly disappear over the years of looking into this same mirror, and the mirror interprets that as a kind of "drowning" of the woman's youth. The "terrible fish," then, is the specter of old age, the total loss of youth and vitality.

Answer 1

Answer:

The woman sees herself as a terrible fish because her younger self is drowning and disappearing as she is getting older. Which is why this is a great form of imagery because the reader can see a terrible fish drowning just like her younger self is drowning in her new body. I believe that she chose to compare herself to a fish because she feels that she is aging fast and ultimately nearing death.

Explanation:

The woman sees herself as a terrible fish because her younger self is drowning and disappearing as she is getting older. Which is why this is a great form of imagery because the reader can see a terrible fish drowning just like her younger self is drowning in her new body. I believe that she chose to compare herself to a fish because she feels that she is aging fast and ultimately nearing death.

The mirror explains, in the final lines, "In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman / Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish."

The woman was said to have awatched as her youth slowly disappear or fade over the years of looking into the same mirror, which is why the mirror interprets that as a kind of "drowning" of the woman's youth. While te "terrible fish," then, is the specter of old age, the total loss of youth and vitality.