Comparing Poems

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Comparing Poems

This essay will be comparing two poems ‘Mirror’ by Sylvia Plath and ‘The Ruined Maid’ by Thomas Hardy. Both these poems are from a woman’s perspective and relates to their feelings and emotions however ‘The Ruined Maid’ is written from Hardy Thomas’s point of view, on the issue of prostitution.

The Mirror is like a vivid portrayal of a woman, in which the poet Sylvia Plath is reflecting her life in a mirror and then a lake bearing in mind they both show reflections although it is in a different way. I think that Plath uses the mirror as a symbol of herself. Yet, in the second stanza she describes a woman who looks into the mirror/lake ‘‘now I am a lake. A woman bends over me’’. I also believe that this is her, one refers to her sane state of mental health (the mirror) and the other refers to the insane person within Plath (the lake). This poem shows how Sylvia Plath is in search inside her soul for talent to bring happiness within herself, this is quiet ironic because although she is very talented she feels very low to herself and struggles with a very low esteem. On the other hand the poem ‘The Ruined Maid’ is the opposite really. ‘The Ruined Maid’ is a poem about two country women, Melia and her friend. Who are both the same, until one of them turns to prostitution.

The poem shows how that when one woman turns to prostitution, her whole attitude towards life changes and her friend wonders why. Melia acts superior to her friend and talks and dresses more elaborately than her friend. Her speech improves and within herself she believes that she is a better person. Her friend is very curious about how much Melia has changed, and seems very interested about how Melia has become so beautiful and rich, even though Melia refers to herself as ‘ruined’. The poem shows the dignity and pride of a woman. However the poet portrays the poem in such a way that it shows that the prostitute in the poem is achieving a lot from her job, although she has lost her dignity the poem portraits her for being rich and famous, and also gives a positive attitude towards prostitution.

 Hardy is very satirical and mocking the morals of Queen Victoria which was concerned with improving public morals such as  and , and manages to make a life of sin seem more attractive than one of virtue. Melia’s excuse for her new attitude is always that she’s not a virgin anymore so that gives her a new status of being  higher class. She also states in the last line that she can strut around town without being spoken about but it’s not alright for her friend to because she is not ‘ruined.’

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In ‘The Mirror’ the objects such as the mirror and the lake are speaking for Sylvia Plath in the sense of her emotions and feelings. In the first stanza the mirror is personified and given human characteristics, “Whatever I see I swallow immediately / Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.” The poet plays on the word “unmisted” to show that the mirror’s reflection is visually clear to one who looks into it, and also to restate that it offers a reflection that is truthful, even if the truth is painful. ‘‘I am not cruel, only truthful’’ this ...

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