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“Mirror” has two settings, a fact that reflects how the poem features a split speaker that begins as a mirror then becomes a lake. In the first stanza, the mirror exists in an indoor setting. In the second stanza, the lake exists in an outdoor setting. Despite the distinction between indoor and outdoor, both settings are similarly reduced through the physical mechanics of reflection. For instance, the mirror’s world is reduced by their specific position in the home. They are mounted in such a way that they face a pink, speckled wall, and they note how their view of this wall flickers in and out as people pass through and get in the way. Similarly, despite being situated in a vast outdoor space, the lake is positioned in such a way that their surface can only reflect what’s directly above them. They spend their reflecting the sky, and this view is only occasionally interrupted when the aging woman comes to swim or bathe. With all this in mind, it makes sense not to over-emphasize the poem’s indoor and outdoor settings. Instead, it may be better to locate the poem’s setting in the unique “mirror worlds” created by the reflective surfaces of the mirror and the lake.

Next section Themes

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