The Face in the Mirror (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Robert Graves
- First Published: 1957
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Autobiography, World War I, Aging, Face or faces, Mirrors or lenses
The Poem
“The Face in the Mirror,” an autobiographical lyric poem, presents a definitive image of the poet’s aging face. Simultaneously, it includes reflections upon central moments and concepts in his life, which carved that face so graphically. Weaving physical description with allusions to significant memories, Robert Graves creates poetic tension in stanzas 1 and 2 and resolves it in stanza 3.
The tension in stanza 1 develops as the poet describes his eyes and brows. The eyes are “Grey” and “haunted.” The softened spelling of “gray,” juxtaposed with...
[The entire page is 1593 words long]
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