These writing prompts are followed by text boxes for your input. If you are working online and your instructor has given you the go-ahead, you can e-mail your work to him or her by clicking the "E-mail Your Answers" button. You can also e-mail a copy to yourself as a record of your work. If you are working offline, you will have to copy your answers (CTRL-C on most systems) and paste them (CTRL-V) into a text document to retain a record of your work.

1. Here is a painting by Pablo Picasso entitled “Girl Before a Mirror.” To what extent do you think this painting depicts a scene similar to what Plath creates in “Mirror”? How is it different? Do you think Plath and Picasso approached this subject in a similar way or a very different one?




2. This web page, called “Mirror, Mirror,” discusses why humans are obsessed with their appearances.  Can you relate to the woman in Plath’s poem who is drawn to the mirror? Would this poem have the same meaning it were a man looking into the mirror? Why or why not?




3. If you don’t remember offhand, look up when this poem was written. Do you think the poem retains the same meaning as it did in the year Plath wrote it? Do you think Plath was discussing something taboo by describing a woman’s relationship with her body image in this way? Why or why not?