More Than An Image

THE OTHER SIDE OF A MIRROR
By Mary Elizabeth Coleridge

I sat before my glass one day,
And conjured up a vision bare,
Unlike the aspects glad and gay,
That erst were found reflected there –
The vision of a woman, wild
With more than womanly despair.

Her hair stood back on either side
A face bereft of loveliness.
It had no envy now to hide
What once no man on earth could guess.
It formed the thorny aureole
Of hard unsanctified distress.

Her lips were open – not a sound
Came through the parted lines of red.
Whate'er it was, the hideous wound
In silence and in secret bled.
No sigh relieved her speechless woe,
She had no voice to speak her dread.

And in her lurid eyes there shone
The dying flame of life's desire,
Made mad because its hope was gone,
And kindled at the leaping fire
Of jealousy, and fierce revenge,
And strength that could not change nor tire.

Shade of a shadow in the glass,
O set the crystal surface free!
Pass – as the fairer visions pass –
Nor ever more return, to be
The ghost of a distracted hour,
That heard me whisper, "I am she!"


This poem was written in the Victorian era where women were to be seen not heard. Mary E. Coleridge was a woman of her era yet in her writings allowed herself the ability to delve into her own identity as a woman (Pullen). It seems as though even 100 years ago women felt the same feelings women still feel today. Women want to be heard. They do not want to be just a beautiful face looking through a mirror. Women want their opinions to matter, not as just an after thought. Women are equal to men in mind and spirit. The quest is the same for women no matter the era; hear me, don’t just see me!

Coleridge was shy and unsure of her abilities as a poet. She did not want to tarnish her great-great uncle Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s name by publishing her works under her name so she chose to write under the pseudonym ‘Andos’ (Pullen). The term ‘Anodos means “on no road”, Coleridge chose this pseudonym in honor of her favorite novel Phantastes (Goss). Despite her shyness she was a skilled writer and released two collections of poems, as well as six books in her lifetime (Goss). It was not until after her death in 1907 that full credit was given to her for her works (Pullen). Perhaps other saw her as the genius she was and despite her request, thought the woman behind the work deserved the recognition she could never give herself.

The poem speaks of a woman who realizes while looking in her mirror not all is as it should be. She begins a journey into unspeakable thoughts in her era, that women are more than they are allowed to be. While looking at her reflection she questions who the woman before her is. Before when she looked into this same glass she saw expressions of a woman happy with the world she lived in. Now she saw a woman undisguised, a woman uncultivated in a culture where men were viewed as superior. Unhappy with her place in this world she grows resentful:

A face bereft of loveliness.
It had no envy now to hide
What once no man on earth could guess.
It formed the thorny aureole
Of hard unsanctified distress. (Coleridge)

In this she no longer feels the need to hide from herself the desires of something more. No one of the era would understand that she had something more than just a pretty face to give to the world of literature. She plays the martyr for the sake of social dignity. She will wear her crown of thorns just as Jesus did. As it is undignified to speak the injustice of a woman’s role, she must suffer in her anxieties, as it would be a sin to defy the role of a well-to-do Victorian daughter (Pullen).

She keeps her silence as, “she had no voice to speak her dread” (Coleridge). She slowly begins to understand her place in this world. Shocked to find out the truth behind the lie her soul begins to die in “The dying flame of life’s desire” (Coleridge). More than just a face she has a place and is being denied. Denied a place where her truths are upheld, and she is equal among men. Where her voice is strong and heard. She begs to the forces “O set the crystal surface free” as she is without the voice she longs to express (Coleridge). She is too in tune with social graces to ever betray her role. She keeps her secret with the mirror. She will not break the silence, as it would disgrace so many. Meanwhile she must live with the gruesome knowledge that “I am she!” (Coleridge).

It is a shame that she felt the pressure to remain in the role expected of her. She had a powerful pen to capture the feelings of a woman’s plight in the Victorian era of forced silence and despair. More of a shame is that she felt the need to hide her work. Surely if she had claimed her work more women would have not felt so alone and possibly stepped out of the role to demand the rights they so richly deserved. It would also seem that her pen name ‘Anodos’ could explain her feelings toward her place in her world. That she had no road to travel, as her path was marked for her. She did not dare mark her own path. She had the voice of many, yet no map to reach her inner destination. It is sad that she had no one by her to say that I too am she.


Coloridge, Mary Elizabeth. “The Other Side of the Mirror.” A Book of Women Poets
from Antiquity to Now Eds. Aliki Barnstone & Willis Barnstone. New York: Schocken Books, 1980. 470-471.

Poems of the Fantastic and Macabre. Ed. Theodora Goss. 15 Apr. 2007
http://www.poemsofthefantastic.com/poets/COLERIDGEnf.html

Pullen, Christine. Literature Online. 2000. Chadwyck-Healey 15 Apr. 2007
http://wf2la6.webfeat.org/Jm6dH171/