1. In society today, why might a person wear
a mask?
2. Who is the “We” that the
speaker refers to?
4. What purpose does the mask the speaker
wears serve?
We Wear the Mask
Paul Laurence Dunbar
5. “guile” means-
WE wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
3. Who does the speaker
wear the mask for?
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
7. What are the speaker’s
emotions?
And mouth with myriad subtleties.
Why should the world be over-wise,
6. “myriad subtleties”
means-
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.
8. Why might the speaker not
mention why he has to wear
a mask?
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!
9. The lines “the clay is vile/ Beneath our feet, and
long the mile” suggest what?
10. How does the
exclamation point in the
final line impact the
tone?
“We Wear the Mask”
By Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)
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.
6 Why should the world be over-wise,
7 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!
Name: ________________________
1. In society today, why might a person wear a mask?
2. Who is the “We” that the speaker refers to?
3. Who does the speaker wear the mask for?
4. What purpose does the mask the speaker wears serve?
5. “guile” means-
*Poem Background- Poet Paul Laurence Dunbar was a son of former slaves, a brilliant man but restricted to
menial jobs, so he worked as an elevator operator. As an African-American, he was free in 1896 (the poem’s
publication date), but still much oppressed- with limited education, job, and social opportunities/privileges
because of his race.
“We Wear the Mask”
By Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)
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.
6 Why should the world be over-wise,
7 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!
Name: ________________________
1. In society today, why might a person wear a mask?
2. Who is the “We” that the speaker refers to?
3. Who does the speaker wear the mask for?
4. What purpose does the mask the speaker wears serve?
5. “guile” means-
*Poem Background- Poet Paul Laurence Dunbar was a son of former slaves, a brilliant man but restricted to
menial jobs, so he worked as an elevator operator. As an African-American, he was free in 1896 (the poem’s
publication date), but still much oppressed- with limited education, job, and social opportunities/privileges
because of his race.
6. “myriad subtleties” means7. What are the speaker’s emotions?
8. Why might the speaker not mention why he has to wear a mask?
9. The lines “the clay is vile/ Beneath our feet, and long the mile” suggest what?
10. How does the exclamation point in the final line impact the tone?
11. Who in The Outsiders could relate to this poem?
12. Why? Explain using evidence from the text.
6. “myriad subtleties” means7. What are the speaker’s emotions?
8. Why might the speaker not mention why he has to wear a mask?
9. The lines “the clay is vile/ Beneath our feet, and long the mile” suggest what?
10. How does the exclamation point in the final line impact the tone?
11. Who in The Outsiders could relate to this poem?
12. Why? Explain using evidence from the text.
“We Wear the Mask” Questions
Name: _______________________
1. What are the speaker’s emotions?
_____________________________________________________________________________
2. What does it mean to wear a mask?
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
3. Why can’t the speaker be honest with most people in America?
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
4. Why can’t the speaker be honest with his friends and family?
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
5. Why would a person wear a “mask?”
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
6. Explain the expression, “Eyes are the windows to the soul.” What can eyes
reveal?
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
7. Give an example of masked emotions & explain why that person feels the need.
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
8. What events in America inspired Dunbar’s poem?
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
9. Why do you think Dunbar did not come right out and mention those events?
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
10. Could this poem have been written today and still describe present day people
and situations? Why or why not?
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
Definitions:
11. guile-____________________________________________________________________
12. subtlety-_________________________________________________________________
13 vile- _____________________________________________________________________
14. arise- ___________________________________________________________________
15. debt- ____________________________________________________________________
Study Guide Prepared by Michael J. Cummings..© 2007
Type of Work and Date of Publication
"We Wear the Mask" is a lyric poem about oppressed black Americans forced to hide their pain
and frustration behind a façade of happiness and contentment. Dunbar published the poem in
1896 in Lyrics of Lowly Life (Dodd, Mead, and Company).
Milestone in Black American Writing
Dunbar was believed to be the first black American to earn national recognition for his writing.
He gained attention after selling a published collection of his poems to riders on the elevator he
operated in a building in Dayton, Ohio.
Son of Slaves
Dunbar was the son of slaves, Matilda and Joshua Dunbar. His father escaped slavery and
served in the Union Army during the Civil War. The extent to which the experiences of
Dunbar's parents as slaves influenced his poetry is uncertain, but it was probably considerable.
One can imagine Dunbar as a child listening at the fireside to stories his parents told about their
lives as slaves.
Theme: Concealed Pain and Suffering
To get by in America of the late 19th Century, blacks frequently concealed their pain,
frustration, and anger from whites, as well as from one another. For blacks to reveal publicly
their true feelings about whites' maltreatment of them would have been to risk dangerous
retaliation. After all, prejudice was official policy in Dunbar's lifetime–governmentally and
otherwise–and whites vastly outnumbered blacks. Sometimes, blacks even withheld their true
feelings from one another, for defeat and desperation were difficult to articulate–and could
impose deep anxiety upon loved ones. So it was that many blacks wore a mask that suggested
happiness and contentment but concealed acute distress and pain.
Historical and Social Background
In 1896–the year of the poem's publication–antipathy toward blacks was widespread in
America. True, the Civil War had liberated blacks from slavery, and federal laws had granted
them the right to vote, the right to own property, and so on. The 13th, 14th, and 15th
Amendments to the U.S. Constitution–approved in the post-Civil War era–granted black
Americans basic rights as citizens, as did the Civil Rights Act of 1875. However, court and
legislative decisions later emasculated the legal protection of blacks. For example, the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled in 1896 (Plessy v. Ferguson) that it was legal to provide "separate but
equal" accommodations for passengers of Louisiana's railroads. This ruling set a precedent that
led to segregated schools, restaurants, parks, libraries, and so on. Meanwhile, hate groups
inflicted inhuman treatment on innocent blacks, including brutal beatings. Lynchings of
innocent blacks were not uncommon. Many so-called "enlightened" or "liberal-minded"
Americans looked the other way, including law-enforcement officers, clergymen, politicians,
and ordinary Americans. Some churches even limited membership to whites. Because blacks
had been relegated to the lowest stratum of society, they had to attend poorly equipped schools
and settle for menial jobs as porters, ditch-diggers, servants, shoeshine boys, and so on. Dunbar,
a brilliant student in high school, worked as an elevator operator before his writing earned him
elevated status. Hatred of blacks continued in the 20th Century. The Ku Klux Klan, which
disbanded in the early 1870's, reformed in 1915 and attracted more than 4 million members
nationwide by the mid-1920s. Prejudice against blacks in America remains strong today in spite
of major advances in favor of blacks. Consequently, Dunbar's poem remains relevant. Schools
throughout America continue to include it in curriculums.
Meter
All the lines in the poem except Lines 9 and 15 are in iambic tetrameter. In this metric pattern, a
line has four pairs of unstressed and stressed syllables, for a total eight syllables. The following
presentation of Stanza 1 illustrates the pattern:
1................2................. 3...............4
We WEAR | the MASK | that GRINS| and LIES,
1................2................. 3...............4
It HIDES | our CHEEKS | and SHADES| our EYES,—
1................2........ 3.............4
This DEBT | we PAY | to HU| man GUILE;
1...................2................. 3.................4
With TORN | and BLEED | ing HEARTS| we SMILE,
1...................2............... 3.............4
And MOUTH | with MYR | iad SUBT | le TIES.
Foot 3, Line 5 ("iad"): You may have noticed that "iad" in Line 5 actually contains two syllables
instead of one. However, Dunbar apparently turned "iad" into one syllable by eliding the "i" and
thereby changing the the pronunciation of myriad from meer e id to meer yid.
Figures of Speech
Paradox
If the poem expresses Dunbar's deep feelings as an oppressed black, it also expresses a paradox.
On the one hand, it hides its central issue: Not even once does it mention blacks or racial
prejudice. In other words, the poem itself wears a mask. On the other hand, it openly parades
Dunbar's feelings as a frustrated black across the page. In other words, it doffs all pretense and
imposture. Gone is the mask. What we have, then, is a poem that conceals everything and
reveals everything at one and the same time. However, if the reader views the narrator/speaker
as a kind of universal voice (raceless, ageless, etc.) rather than a specific man (Dunbar), then the
paradox does not obtain. In the latter case, the general language could apply to anyone of any
race who hides his or her feelings to get by in the world. For additional information, see
Universality, below.
Alliteration
Repetition of consonant sounds, alliteration, occurs throughout the poem.
Metaphor
The controlling figure of speech in the poem is a metaphor, expressed in the first line, then
enlarged and extended in the rest of the poem. The metaphor compares mask of Line 1 to the
false emotional façades blacks use to avoid provoking their oppressors.
Apostrophe
Lines 1 and 2 of Stanza 3 present an apostrophe, a figure of speech that directly addresses an
absent person or entity.
We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries / To thee from tortured souls arise.
Universality
Since Dunbar avoids specifically mentioning blacks and their suffering, the poem could stand as
a lament on behalf of all people forced to wear a "mask"–the girl who hides her pregnancy from
her parents, the boy who defensively humors an abusive parent, the soldier under fire who
writes home that all is well when all is not well. One may fairly argue that the poem is about
every human being. Who, after all, has not worn a mask on occasion to conceal hurt, frustration,
disappointment?
Annotations
mask: In this poem, a metaphor for the psychological façade that conceals the true feelings of
the black mask wearer. Although the mask grins, the face beneath the mask may display
desperation or disappointment. In the dramas of ancient Greece, actors wore masks to reveal to
the audience the emotions of the characters they were portraying.
Mouth . . . subtleties: Mouth here is a verb meaning speak or talk. Myriad subtleties refers to the
deft wordplay and behavior blacks resorted to in order to avoid offending whites and provoking
retaliation.
lies, eyes, guile, etc.: Dunbar uses the long i sound at the end of every line, except the last lines
of each stanza, to create rhyme and rhythm. Note that companion words at the end of lines
include the following:
lies (1), eyes (2), over-wise (6), sights (7), cries (10), arise (11), otherwise (14).
guile (3), smile (4), while (8), vile (12), mile (13)..