General Comments:

• Proofread

• Proper citation (See Some Matters of Form and Writing Prose.)

• Have a clear point

• Support your ideas with textual evidence

Comments: You should demonstrate a good grasp of denotation, connotation and tone in responding to this question.  Several of you did not show that you understood what connotation is and did not give very clear and relevant connotations for either candles or the moon.  The links below are to help you review connotation: what it is and how it is different from denotation.

A good answer 1) gets to the point and answers the question right away (clearly states the connotation(s) for candles and the moon), 2) is not wordy and sticks to its point, 3) has very few or no grammatical mistakes, 4) gives relevant evidence from the text of the poem to support its argument and incorporates it smoothly into its own prose, and 5) shows understanding of the material and critical and analytical thinking.

Sample answer:

The romantic connotations associated with candles and the moon (ex. a candle light dinner, dancing in the moonlight) suggest that they are “misted by love,” not meeting the superior measure of “exact” truth that the mirror claims it gives.  Candles and the moon presumably do not illumine the woman as she really is (l. 11), but make her look younger or more beautiful, lying about her appearance.

Too vague, does not show clear understanding of connotation, can be more succinct:

The reason why the personified mirror in stanza 1 calls the moon and candles "liars" is related to the connotative meaning of these two words, which is lighting equipment as these two things.

Too long and rambling, does not show a good grasp of literary terms (ex. metaphor, connotation), grammatical mistakes:

Plath calls candles and the moon "liars" because she wants to use candles and the moon as the metaphor.  Candles and the moon have a very soft light.  They can bring us to obsess with their beauty.  Women often love their beauty especially when they are teenagers.  When women get older, they feel hard to accept the winkles that come with their ages.  The mirror can reflect everything in the real state of it.  When women look at the mirror every day, they will see the real face that will have more wnkles.  It seems that mirror reflect the real things.  On the other hand, candles and the moon reflect only the beauty, not a real state.  Therefore, these 2 words are used to clearify the disparaging tone of the mirror.

Comments: Here is your chance to apply your understanding of metaphor, denotation, connotation, and personification to a poem on your own and explore how a poet can play with diction, using different meanings of a term to convey even more meaning.  Notice which denotative meaning(s) of "meditate" and "reflect" Plath uses in each instance, for which character (the mirror or the woman), and to say what about the mirror, the woman, and physical change as one ages.

A good answer 1) discusses the meanings of "meditate" and "reflect" in relation to the metaphors, 2) analyzes rather than paraphrases or repeats the poem

Sample answer:

The mirror who does not lie is at least stretching the truth.  Claiming a natural function (reflecting light) as a willful act (thinking about things) and elevating itself to the status of a god, the mirror undermines its own personification.  The mirror’s ability “to throw back light” (Merriam-Webster) is not the same kind of contemplative “thinking” or “considering” that the woman does when she reflects.  Despite the human-like verbs, the mirror is not human like.  And despite the godly metaphor (“the eye of a little god” l. 5), the mirror is far from omniscient or omnipotent, being limited to its four corners and able to “see” only what enters that fixed field of vision.  Similarly truth-stretching is the lake metaphor that implies a depth the mirror does not have, physically or mentally.  The woman’s meditation of her face every morning (l. 16), on the other hand, “searching…for what she really is” (l. 11) ironically rings with more truth and shows more dimension.  “Bend[ing] over” to examine herself, the woman shows her very human vanity.  “Rewarding [the mirror] with tears and an agitation of hands,” she reveals her very real conflict: demonstrating realization of her aging yet wanting denial.

Comments: Review of imagery, simile, metaphor, denotation, connotation.

A good answer 1) gives a close reading of the relevant images, 2) shows ability to synthesize material learned

Sample answer:

Disjointed, lacks clarity, has many grammatical mistakes, does not identify the simile:

The two images are related by the exact reflection, not distorted by any emotion.  In the first stanza, the mirror reflects everything before it without judgement.  It gives the immediate image as well as the lake reflecting the woman's image.  The poet combine these two personifications with the gustatory by giving an idea of the things that look into the mirror and the lake as a food that they have to 'reflect' the image they 'swallowed' because of its terrible appearance.  However, although they were rewarded with tears and agitation of hands, they still stand it do their duty faithfully.

• Sylvia Plath Forum

• The Poetry of Sylvia Plath

• "The Real Sylvia Plath" by Kate Moses ("Her newly published, unexpurgated journals reveal the poet's true demons -- and support a little-known theory about what drove her to suicide.")

• Featured Author: Sylvia Plath (news, reviews, audio readings from the archives of The New York Times)

• Annas, Pamela J.  "The Self in the World: The Social Context of Sylvia Plath's Late Poems."  Women's Studies 7.1-2 (1980): 171-84.

• Freedman, William.  "The Monster In Plath's `Mirror.'"  Papers on Language and Literature 29.2 (1993): 152-70.

• Narbeshuber, Lisa.  "The Poetics of Torture: The Spectacle of Sylvia Plath's Poetry."  Canadian Review of American Studies 34.2 (2004): 185-203.

• Richardson, D.  "Plath's Mirror."  Explicator 49.3 (1991): 193-95.

• Timmerman, John H.  "Plath's Mirror."  Explicator 45.2 (1987): 63-64.

• Wolosky, Shira.  "The Ethics of Foucauldian Poetics: Women's Selves."  New Literary History 35.3 (2004): 491-505.

• Sylvia Plath (brief bio)

• Sylvia Plath Homepage (introduction, biography, online essays, poems, pictures, links, and a wealth of other information)

• Biography (more detailed bio with photos from Peter K. Steinberg)

• Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) (biographical and critical excerpts, exhibit, links)

• Voices and Visions Spotlight on Sylvia Plath (annotated links)