The poem "Mirror" was written by Sylvia Plath in 1961. This poem is a sincere demonstration of the writer's feelings, fears, pains, feelings of hopelessness and personal state of mind, which is why she is labeled as a confessional poet. She was considered a feminist writer, and she also dealt with motherhood, marriage, suicidal instincts. In addition to her personal aspects, critics claim that her poetry rises to the general human condition. The very name of the poem and one of the central ideas is that the mirror reflects what is true. It helps to explore one's true self in opposition to illusion and appearance. It deals with the research of what is below the reflecting and visible surface. Silver and exact refers to this aspect of the poem.
Another central idea of the poem deals with the relationship between the patriarchal environment and the tyranny of beauty, with the feminist aspect and the criticism of this phenomenon. The idea of a crisis of identity of a woman and her concern in such an environment is developing. It shows the fear of passing time and aging. She checks her beauty every day, and it represents her suffering. Observing herself in the mirror every day, she sees herself leaving, so that the peak of this agony will make her fear of aging an "terrible fish," which is her pronounced anxiety. The loss of her beauty does not mean only aging and her death, but also a social death under the influence of the patriarchal environment, which often sees the value of the woman in her beauty. This points to her feminist criticism against social pressure, and a strict male attitude toward female beauty, because by such a value system, women lose their importance and value when they get old and when they stop being beautiful. Simply, such a system represents the shallow truth of dictated physical appearance.
The answer is: young and beautiful
