Symbol Analysis
Where would we be without mirrors? A lot of the time, we’d probably be walking around with spinach stuck between our teeth—not a pretty picture. Mirrors are all about appearances. Just ask the wicked queen in Snow White. But mirrors don’t reflect a person’s character, or do they? Eyes are sometimes referred to as “windows of the soul.” Maybe that’s why, when you look in a mirror, you sometimes get the feeling that someone else is looking back. Ever consider starting a conversation with the person in the mirror? That question seems to be the starting point of “Love After Love,” which uses mirrors to symbolize inner, as well as outer, experience.
- Line 4: After several hours of trying to make ourselves presentable, we can sometimes look in the mirror without cringing too much. But if the speaker of “Love After Love” is to be believed, it’s possible to take pleasure in your own image; it’s possible not only to smile at your reflection, but also to feel that your reflection is smiling back. What do you think: can a mirror reflect your psychological state—your level of self-acceptance or self-love—as well as the state of your hairdo?
- Line 14: If the mirror in the first stanza suggests self-love, the mirror in line 14 is more ambiguous and even more surreal. Much depends on how you interpret the word “image,” which can refer to a public persona as well as a physical likeness. This “image” may or may not be associated with the “love letters” in line 12. By peeling this image off the mirror, are you removing a barrier to authentic self-knowledge by rejecting conventional social expectations of who you should be? Or does the image on the mirror, in fact, symbolize a new appreciation for who you really are?