We Wear the Mask
A Poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)
Study Guide
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
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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. In the following lines, the alliterating
consonants are highlighted:
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.
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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.
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?
We Wear the Mask
By Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)
Text
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!
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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)..
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