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Sylvia Plath, “Daddy”

Plath’s 1962 poem “Daddy” is very different from “Mirror” in terms of structure, themes, and tone. Yet each poem, in its own way, offers a potent feminist critique of the treatment of women in contemporary U.S. society.

Maya Angelou, “On the Pulse of Morning”

Although thematically quite different from “Mirror,” Angelou’s 1993 poem “On the Pulse of Morning” also features nonhuman speakers: a rock, a river, and a tree. It’s therefore worth comparing these poems for the insightful perspectives their speakers present to us human readers.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper”

“Mirror” would benefit from being read alongside Gilman’s short story from 1892. “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a key feminist text that examines the disturbing interaction between patriarchy and mental illness in its unnamed narrator. It’s particularly valuable to compare the symbolic function of the wallpaper in Gilman’s story to the function of the pink wall in Plath’s poem.

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