Ad
related to: we wear the mask poem by paul laurence dunbarExplore Literature and Fictional Books Across a Range Of Genres and Boundaries. Get Deals and Low Prices On Top Products At Amazon
Search results
Read the full text of Dunbar's famous poem about the double consciousness of African Americans in a racist society. The poem expresses the pain, anger and hope of the masked people who smile but cry to God.
- Sympathy by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Sympathy by Paul Laurence Dunbar - We Wear the Mask by Paul...
- The Haunted Oak
The Haunted Oak - We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar |...
- A Negro Love Song
A Negro Love Song - We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar...
- Sympathy by Paul Laurence Dunbar
"We Wear the Mask" was written by African American poet and novelist Paul Laurence Dunbar in 1895. Like much of Dunbar's work, "We Wear the Mask" is a reaction to the experience of being black in America in the late 19th century, following the Civil War—a period when life seemed to have improved for black Americans yet in reality was still marked by intense racism and hardship.
- Stanza One
- Stanza Two
- Stanza Three
In the first stanza of this piece, the speaker begins by utilizing the refrain. It is also the line that later became the title of the poem. He is using the word “We” to allow the reader to include themselves in the text. All people are among those who “wear mask[s].” That being said, Dunbar is well-known as a pioneer of the Harlem Renaissance. Thi...
The fourth stanza of this piece is a quatrain, meaning it contains four lines. These lines begin with the speaker asking a rhetorical question. He does not expect to receive an answer. This does not mean the question lacks importance. It is posed to make one consider the state of the world and perhaps further the question themselves. He asks why th...
The final stanza of this piece contains six lines. It begins with the speaker increasing the already dark nature of the piece. He explains how “We smile” but no matter what the “cries” come out from “tortured souls.” They “arise” from behind the mask and into the real, knowable world. He sets up a second contrast in the next lines with a comparison...
- Female
- October 9, 1995
- Poetry Analyst And Editor
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! This poem is in the public domain. Paul Laurence Dunbar, born in 1872 and the author of numerous collections of poetry and prose, was one of the first African American poets to gain national recognition.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) ‘We Wear the Mask’ is a poem by the African-American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906), written in 1895 and included in Dunbar’s 1896 collection Majors and Minors. In the poem, Dunbar writes about the fact that many members of a marginalised community (which can be tacitly understood to ...
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 ...
People also ask
What type of poetry is we wear the mask?
Who wrote we wear the mask?
How many stanzas does we wear the mask have?
How does Dunbar compare surviving oppression to wearing a mask?
Feb 9, 2024 · Poem of the Day on Fri, Feb 9, 2024 | Paul Laurence Dunbar Dies (1906) 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,
