Analysis cont.
Poem analysis #2
"Mirror"
You'd expect a certain view from such a mirror-- clearer than one that hangs in the entry and decays I gaze past my reflection toward other things bat wings, burnt gold upon blue, which decorate the wall and all thoses objects collected from travels, now seen between its great, gold frame, diminished with age: a stage where, still, the supernatural corps de ballet displays its masquerade in the reflected light. At night, I thought I'd see the faces of the dead. Instead, the faces of the ghosted silver sea saw me. The first initial thought of the poem had to have been that the speaker is trying to find their personal truth, they no longer recognize themselves when looking in a mirror, haunted by their inner demons. When we look through the Psychoanalytic lens, we can distinguish that with a mirror, someone is reflecting on something. Whether it be themselves, their projection* from the unconscious or their conflicted identity. When we look at the symbolism all throughout the poem; what stood out for me is the final two stanzas. The sea, a direct symbol for spiritual mystery and infinity, death and rebirth, timelessness and eternity. "bat wings" from the animal that can "see through lies" |
Psychoanalytic theory
Adopts the methods of “reading” employed by Freud and
later theorists to interpret texts. Argues that texts, like dreams, express the secret and unconscious desires and anxieties of the author, that a literary work is a manifestation of the author’s own neuroses (Qtd. in Ogden). |