“We Wear the Mask” Blog #9

March 1, 2009 blondie11

“We Wear the Mask,” by Paul Laurence Dunbar is an interesting poem I chose to read for my ninth blog entry.  The very first thing I did before reading this poem was read the biography on Paul Laurence Dunbar, just because I noticed he was African American.  I wasn’t entirely sure how they were treated during this time period, so I wanted to see if there was any information leading to an influence on this poem. I did read that he was a former slave, but his parents schooled him in history and he became very smart.  I feel that, even looking at the title, this poem has a lot to do with slavery and perhaps how they are exactly the same as everyone else, they just wear some sort of “mask.” So I am going to say that the “mask” in the title is a symbol for being a slave. The second thing I noticed was how strange the rhyme scheme appeared to be. It follows an AA BB C masculine format, but doesn’t quite follow that format throughout the whole poem. I also noticed that there are a couple places where cesuras are used. For example, “Nay, let them only see us, while…”  I found this to be such an excellent technique to include in this particular poem because it really helps the reader to stop and think about the words. It also helped me to picture an African American giving a speech or reciting this poem, and really being able to connect with his passion about who they are. The last stanza is a bit of a sonnet just because it flows about negative things, and then the last two lines are bright and seem to be a change in attitude. I really enjoyed this taste of culture and history in the poem and I thought it was very well written.

Entry Filed under: Senior year

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