What is an important motif in the poem, Love After Love?

The mirror is a bookend motif in the poem, appearing at both the beginning and the end. In literature and folklore, mirrors can be a double-edged device — they can reveal things as they truly are, or reflect our fabricated misconceptions. While they are often associated with vanity, they’re also linked to a deep knowledge of the self. In the first stanza, the speaker encourages the listener to “greet yourself […] in your own mirror” (Lines 3-4); in other words, to re-examine the side of oneself that had become lost. Later, the speaker references removing a false self from the mirror so that the true self can be embraced underneath. In this way the mirror becomes an external device to journey within and gain new understanding.