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Witchglass

Folklore
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A mirror or crystal used for scrying, trapping spirits, or revealing hidden truths, often cracked or blackened by magic.

Detailed Definition
Witchglass in poetry represents the fractured self and the danger of self-knowledge. It appears in psychological and occult verse as the surface that does not reflect, but consumes—where staring too long dissolves the watcher into the glass.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Yeats’ “A Vision,” the witchglass is the mirror that shows the soul’s true face; in Coleridge’s “Christabel,” the witchglass is the pool where Geraldine’s form is revealed; in Keats’ “La Belle Dame sans Merci,” the witchglass is the lake that reflects the knight’s doom; in Emily Dickinson’s “I saw no Way—The Heavens were stitched,” the witchglass is the window that shows the infinite; in Sylvia Plath’s “Mirror,” the witchglass is the surface that does not lie; in Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess,” the witchglass is the portrait that holds the gaze.
Additional Notes
Witchglass is a mirror or crystal used for scrying, trapping spirits, or revealing hidden truths, often cracked or blackened by magic. In folklore, it reflects not the face but the soul. In poetry, it symbolizes self-confrontation, the danger of truth, and the fragmentation of identity. Poets use it to explore reflection as revelation, and the haunting of what is seen but not spoken.
Also Known As
Mirror of Witches Scrying Glass
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