Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.

Claims to Objectivity

Claims to objectivity appear throughout “Mirror.” From the very beginning, the speaker insists on their lack of preconceptions: “Whatever I see I swallow immediately / Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike” (lines 2–3). Because the speaker has no preconceptions, they claim that their perception of the world is based not on judgment but on truth:

     I am not cruel, only truthful‚
     The eye of a little god, four-cornered.   

Here, in lines 4–5, the speaker insinuates that their perspective approximates that of a “little god”—one who looks upon the world from a distance that guarantees their dispassionate objectivity. Later in the poem, when the speaker has taken the form of a lake, they make yet another claim to objectivity: “I see [the woman’s] back, and reflect it faithfully” (line 13). The speaker’s use of the word “faithfully” suggests that they reflect the woman’s image clearly and without distortion. However, this same word also implies a deeper sense of loyalty on the lake’s part. Here, then, the line between objectivity and subjectivity begins to blur, encouraging the reader to feel suspicious about the speaker’s claims to undistorted representation. Indeed, the very fact that the mirror and the lake go to such lengths to stress their objectivity is cause for suspicion.

Reflections

The varied claims to objectivity in the poem relate to the fact that the poem’s twofold speaker—first a mirror, then a lake—is characterized by their capacity for reflection. The mirror and the lake both have reflective surfaces, but they reflect—and reflect on—the world in slightly different ways. The mirror is manufactured with a surface that is “silver and exact” (line 1), and which reflects the world with crystal-clear precision. Though the mirror reproduces whatever it sees with little to no distortion, they aren’t perfectly neutral when it comes to the pink, speckled wall that faces them. After untold hours of reflecting this wall, the mirror reflects on the possibility that the wall has become “part of [their] heart” (line 8). Like the mirror, the lake also has a reflective surface. Unlike the mirror, however, this surface is not perfectly engineered, and hence reflects what it sees with greater distortion. It’s perhaps for this reason that the lake makes a softer claim to objectivity than the mirror does. Whereas the mirror emphasizes the exactness of their reflective capacity, the lake underscores the overall fidelity of their reflections: “I see her back, and reflect it faithfully” (line 13).