 Szymborska employs a linear, chronological structure that allows her to highlight the

speaker's thought process throughout the date with their partner. This is further
highlighted by how she introduces the conflict, before creating significant tension, and
finally an implied submission to the problem without a solution. For example, she
introduces the conflict with the quote “Happily I gulped a star,” (Line 3) implying that
she is being forced against her will to accept her new personality, or “charm” that she
has “taken it as [her] own.”

 As the poem progresses, there is a significant shift at the end of stanza three, when she
directly addresses how her new personality is “so fictitious that it hurts.” By directly
addressing it, combined with the end-stop, the speaker emphasizes her strong dislike for
the values that she must adhere to while she is with her partner, matching
the standards for feminine qualities of the time period.

 In the last stanza, the speaker concludes with ambiguity by referring to a “nail where a
picture used to be.” In doing so, the speaker implies that their personality has now been
altered, and is "missing," ending the poem without the reader knowing the speaker's
plan on reclaiming her identity.

 Szymborska repeatedly employs end-stops and caesuras, as well as declarative

sentences to emphasize how the speaker feels regarding her loss of control over her
individuality. For example, in stanza six, she emphasizes how the unnatural creation of
three mythological women have a personality that they accept, yet the speaker, who
can assume is born naturally, is not real to who she is as an individual. By employing the
end stop, the speaker highlights the contrast between the qualities she possesses,
compared to the ones referenced by the allusions.

 In stanza five, the speaker uses a caesura and an end-stop around line 23, “in his arms
that create me.” This further emphasizes how the speaker has conformed to the
expectations of her partner, who now influences how she behaves.

 The speaker mentions the word “Reflection” twice, once at the beginning, and again at
the end. The context before word symbolizes the speaker’s changing identity
throughout the poem. For example, she states how she “invents” her personality based
on “[her] own reflection” (Line 5). By the inclusion of the word own, it implies that she
still has some degree of control over it, even though she chooses to relinquish that
control to conform to “his eyes” (Line 6). By the end of the poem, the speaker tries to
“catch her reflection” (Line 28), signaling that she longer has control over her
individuality, and has submitted to the expectations of her partner.