Answer the following questions briefly

(a) What is the poetic device used when the mirror says 'I swallow'?

(b) How does the mirror usually pass its time?

(c) What disturbs the mirror's contemplation of the opposite wall?

(d) Why does the mirror appear to be a lake in the second stanza? What aspect of the mirror do you think is being referred to here?

(e) What is the woman searching for in the depths of the lake?

(f) How does the narrator convey the fact that the woman looking at her reflection in the lake is deeply distressed?

(g) What makes the woman start crying?

(h) What do you think the 'terrible fish' in the last line symbolizes? What is the poetic device used here?

Open in App

Solution

(a) ‘I swallow’ personifies the mirror. The mirror seems to say that the image on it is deep enough to swallow everything, passively. The objectivity of the mirror is significant.

(b) The mirror meditates on the wall.

(c) Appearances of faces and darkness disturb the mirror’s contemplation of the opposite wall.

(d) The mirror, appearing to be a lake, symbolises depths of reality. The aspect of reflecting back an image objectively, is referred to over here.

(e) The woman is searching for her true identity.

(f) It seems that the woman in the poem is deeply distressed because when she sees herself ageing in the mirror, she turns away to find her answers in the candles and the moon. She has tears in her eyes and her agitated hands express her distress.

(g) Faithful picture of the mirror, of her true ageing personality, makes her cry. She cries because the truth is bitter and too harsh for her to bear.

(h) The ‘terrible fish’ symbolises the bitter truth which puts human beings to a fatal end. The poetic device used here is a simile.

Suggest Corrections

Similar questions

Why does the mirror appear to be a lake in the second stanza? What aspect of the mirror do you think is being referred to here?

What do you think the 'terrible fish' in the last line symbolizes? What is the poetic device used here?

How does the narrator convey the fact that the woman looking at her reflection in the lake is deeply distressed?

Answer the following questions:

1. When the poet says that the mirror has no preconceptions it means:

(i) it reflects your image objectively

(ii) it gives a biased view of the person

(iii) it is emotionally involved with the person whose image it reflects

2. Why has the mirror been described as being ‘unmisted’? What is the image that the poet is trying to convey about the nature of the mirror?

3. How does the mirror ‘swallow’? What is the poetic device used here?

4. From the poem find out the words that have been used to describe the mirror. For e.g. exact, ….

5. The mirror has been called a four-cornered God because:

(i) it is square shaped

(ii) like God it watches you unbiased and fair from all the four angles

(iii) it faithfully reflects all that it sees

6. How does the mirror spend its time?

7. What disturbs it contemplation of the opposite wall?

8. The ‘pink speckles’ refer to:

(i) the opposite wall that is pink.

(ii) a person with a healthy pink face with freckles.

(iii) spots made on the mirror with red paint.

9. In the second stanza the mirror is compared to another object. What is it? Why do you think this comparison has been made?

10. What is the woman searching for in the depths of the pool?

11. The phrase ‘agitation of the hands’ means:

(i) the person is very upset

(ii) the person’s hands are cold

(iii) the person is worried

12. Why does ‘she’ start crying?

13. Why does the poet refer to the fish in the last line? Why has it been described as being ‘terrible’?

What is the poetic device used when the mirror says 'I swallow'?

Join BYJU'S Learning Program