We Wear the Mask

By Paul Lawrence Dunbar

credit: www.nathaliemadethis.com/mask.html

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 overwise,
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!

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This poem has many aspects of poem. The important aspect that was used is simile.

Even though there is no word, "like", I still feel like there is a comparison between

wearing a mask and trying to hide our real feeling. It also has a repetition. Every stanza has the word, "We wear the mask," to emphasize the theme of this poem. Moreover, it demonstrates hiding our real feeling like a debt that we pay for human guile. Others aspect are rhyme and alliteration. There are plenty of rhymes and alliterations in this poem, for example,

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.

that makes it more interesting and touching. Not only those of aspects I've told you, but there

is also a personification of the world in these sentences,"In counting all your tears and sighs" and "Let the world dream otherwise." Furthermore, it has a vivid imagery that we can imagine about people pretend to be happy by putting a MASK on their faces.

The theme of this poem is about pretending to hide our REAL feeling behind the SMILED-mask. Sometimes, we have to pretend that we are happy to make people around us feel good and hide our sadnesses inside our hearts deeply.

While I'm reading this poem, I think about my life. Many times that I pretend to be happy even I feel so bad. Recently, I was a heart-broken person, but I had to pretend to my parents that I was OK because I was going to study abroad. I didn't want my parents to worry about me.

My story is just one of many examples about human feeling. I think everyone has your own mask depend on when you want to pick it up and cover your face!