17 pages • 34-minute read
Mirror
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Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“Barren Woman” by Sylvia Plath (1961)
Originally titled “Small Hours,” this poem examines womanhood and aging, and it appears in the same poetry collection as her poem “Mirror.”
“The Other Side Of A Mirror” by Mary Elizabeth Coleridge
Mary Elizabeth Coleridge is the great-great niece of Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. This poem, which offers a look at Victorian femininity, provides another woman’s perspective on the relationship between mirrors and femininity.
“A Hand-Mirror” by Walt Whitman (1900)
A poem that explores similar themes of aging, self-reflection, and truth through the lens of a mirror.
Further Literary Resources
“The Mystical Symbolism of Mirrors in Women’s Literature” by Neve McBeal (2019)
This article explores the significance of mirrors as a literary motif in prose and poetry, including a look into Plath’s “Mirror.”
“Through the Looking Glass: A Discussion of Doubling in Sylvia Plath's ‘Mirror’” by Cathleen Allyn Conway (2010)
An article exploring duality in Plath’s “Mirror” and comparative works.
“Sylvia Plath: Will the poet always be defined by her death?” by Lillian Crawford (2021)
This article examines the resurgence of interest in Sylvia Plath’s life and the way her body of work and accomplishments often come second to her mental health issues and death.
Listen to Poem
A Poetry Channel Presents “Mirror” by Sylvia Plath
This is a dramatized reading of Sylvia Plath’s poem “Mirror” on YouTube.
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