Assignment:
We Wear the Mask
BY PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR
We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,-
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.
Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.
We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!
Paul Laurence. Dunbar, ""We Wear the Mask."" from The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar. (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company). Found on Poetry Foundation.
1. Without looking up anything about the poem or poet, what does the poem mean to you? Another way of saying this: What is this poem about (in your opinion)? Back up your point of view (POV). As part of your response, please incorporate your answer to this question in your response to question 2. Need Assignment Help?
2. The mask in the poem can be considered a symbol. Look up the word "symbol" and copy and paste its definition. What is the mask a symbol of, according to your interpretation?
3. There are three verses to "We Wear the Mask." How many lines are in each verse (or "stanza")? Do all three verses have the same number of lines? Do they all end with the same refrain? Why do you think they vary?
4. A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes in the poem that fall at the end of each line of a poem. The rhyme itself is usually composed of a united vowel and consonant sound preceded by a changing consonant sound.
For example: cat, mat, rat, sat. But sometimes the end rhyme is simply a vowel sound, such as a long E: me, tree, liberty, industry. As you can see, the spelling may vary, but the sound remains the same. When the last syllable of a line rhymes with another last syllable of another line, we call that an end rhyme, tail rhyme, or a perfect rhyme. If the whole poem is filled with end rhyme, we go through it trying to make a pattern of the end rhymes. The most common pattern of end rhyme is: abab cdcd efef, etc. Another common pattern is: abcb defe ghih, etc. Yet another common pattern is: abba cddc etc. When you detect a pattern of end rhyme throughout the poem, we call that the "rhyme scheme."
5. Is there a rhyme scheme to "We Wear the Mask"? Copy the full poem onto Canvas. Assign a new letter of the alphabet to each new end sound in the poem, starting with A. (Put the letter to the RIGHT of each line). Move on to the next letter of the alphabet each time you encounter a new end sound. Does the refrain rhyme with anything?
6. Most of you are familiar with the concept of alliteration. Alliteration occurs when the consonant sounds at the start of two or more words are the same. For example, "tell" and "toe" both start with the same consonant, a T. The repetition of a consonant at the start of two or more words makes those words jump out. Often a poet will make the choice to create alliteration in order to make certain words stand out. Find examples of alliteration in the WHOLE poem. Words can be considered alliterative if they fall within 4 lines of each other!
7. Assonance: Many of you may never have heard of assonance.
Assonance occurs when the vowel sounds in two or more words are repeated. There are a limited number of vowels: A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y. However, each vowel has several sounds-a long and a short and sometimes other sounds if combined with a second vowel or with the letter R. Just because you see a whole line filled with words that contain an O, that doesn't mean that the words are assonant. Each one may have a separate pronunciation.
There's a lot of assonance in "We Wear the Mask." Go through the poem looking for words that contain the same vowel sounds. (Rhyming words will obviously contain the same vowel sound, so don't include words that end rhyme with each other). What is the dominant vowel sound of the whole poem? Does it rhyme with the refrain's last syllable? If not, what does the refrain rhyme with?
Thea Alert: Some teachers will teach you that alliteration or assonance has to occur in the same line of a poem. I was taught and hold to the rule that alliteration and assonance (and consonance, not covered today) count when similar sounds can be detected within 4 lines of each other. Thus, if I find a "d" word in line 9 and then find another "d" word in line 12, I consider them alliterative. In that way, I may trace a pattern of "d" words throughout a poem!
Another Thea Alert: I am wary of the opening S sound. I do not consider every word that starts with an S to be alliterative. For example, "star" and "shoe" do not have similar starting sounds at all! Say these words out loud slowly and watch what your lips are doing. Listen to them as you say them.
Try saying "said" and "smack." Again, I hear very different sounds. For that reason, I am quite careful about assigning alliteration to all words starting with an S.
Last Thea Alert: There's nothing we can do about the fact that most plural nouns in English end in an S (or ES or IES). And most 3rd person singular verbs in the present tense also end in an S. Thus, a poem full of words ending in S, ES or IES does not usually mean that the poet is attentive to those sounds and trying to make a point by using them. (Words that end in the same consonant sound, by the way, are called "Consonant.")
8. Not only does "We Wear the Mask" contain end rhyme, alliteration, assonance, and repetition, but it also contains an "allusion." According to the Oxford Dictionary, an allusion is "an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference." Often, writers will deliberately make allusions to another well-known work of literature, such as the Bible. Find the allusion in the poem. (Hint: Try the third verse. And remember: an allusion is INDIRECT, not obvious).
9. Now that you are done answering all these study questions, please look up a short bio of Dunbar. When did he live and die? What was his race? Look up "lynching in America in 1900." Does knowing something about the poet and the history of his time period change your interpretation of the meaning of the poem?