What The Mirror Said Poem Analysis

“What the Mirror Said” by Lucille Clifton (page 202) narrates a girl convincing herself of her own worth. The repeated line, “listen,” indicates that she’s pleading with herself. The final line, “mister with his hands on you / he got his hands on some / damn / body!” concludes that this woman feels like she’s special and complex, and not “anonymous.” The only rhythmic quality is that refrain, but there is a unique poetic style to it in the way language is used. The grammar isn’t formal, it’s more conversational, in lines like, “you a wonder, you a city.” A clear image is still achieved in those lines, as well as in, “you got a geography / of your own.” The strong points are the unique, informal way of speaking, and the vivid description …show more content…
She compares a woman to a gift, implying that women are trained at a young age to be submissive and obedient towards me. She gets the point across with the disturbing line, “they taught it to bury its wishbone / they poured honey down its throat”. The rhythmic quality is the repetition of the word “they” throughout the poem. One very memorable image is the vague use of the word “it” when referring to the woman, clearly implying that she’s less human than the man mentioned. The strength of the poem comes from its dark description of women used to make a point. The tone is fitting for the depressing but relevant …show more content…
The poem is a narration, in which someone discovers a pregnant doe and choses to move its body off the road rather than try to salvage the still-living baby. The structure of the poem, with the final line being, “the pushed her over the edge into the river,” implies that the protagonist had the chance to do the right thing, but when no one was looking chose what was easiest. Even with specific imagery used to stir emotions, such as “her fawn lay there waiting, alive, still, never to be born,” the poem fails to arouse any feeling or provoke further thought. If the intention was to make the reader feel like the narrator is wrong for failing to help the deer, or that it implies a moral flaw, then the author is mistaken here. The idea, that what a person does when no one is looking reveals there character, is valid. However, the metaphor used relies on the basis that a person is expected to aide an already dying baby deer, who would either die without a mother or live on only to be hunted and killed. The poem is beautifully written but overall lacks a strong emotional