"We Wear the Mask"

Name____________________________Date_____________Period________________________

We Wear the Mask

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!

Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)

1. Read through the poem twice.
2. What is the tone of the “Mask” poem?


3. What do you believe this poem is about?


4. What words indicate to you the poem’s meaning?


5. According to Dunbar, what are masks?


6. Who uses masks? Give examples.