Personification: the mask is

being personified as it has

human-like features of facial
expressions and the ability to
hide and shade parts of the
face. This adds to the fact that
the mask hides what is really
BY PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR
going emotionally because the
facial features that the mask is
hiding (cheeks and eyes) are We wear the mask that grins and lies,
things that often show
emotion.
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,

We Wear the Mask

This debt we pay to human guile;

Alliteration: mouth
and myriad both start
with the letter M, which
emphasizes the iambic
pattern that we hear in
the poem.

Hyperbole: the heart

is not really torn and
bleeding, but Dunbar
uses hyperbole here to
express the pain that
the speaker is feeling.

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?

Metaphor: tears and

sighs are a metaphor for
the pain that the speaker
(and everyone else he is
speaking for the we)
is feeling.

Nay, let them only see us, while

Allusion: the allusion to
Christ emphasizes the
speakers need for help that
the world cannot give, so he
is turning to a Deity.
Apostrophe: an apostrophe
is addressing someone who is
not physically present. So
here the speakers use of an
apostrophe makes his/her
emotional conflict much
more daunting for the
reader.

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;

Juxtaposition: the line

begins with smile and ends
with cries, two words that
are very opposite. This plays
into the idea of a mask
because the speaker smiles to
the world, but then turns to
God and cries out in anguish.

But let the world dream otherwise,

We wear the mask!

Imagery: the imagery of

walking the long mile shows
that there may be hope.
Perhaps all the pain is just
apart of the journey.

Extended metaphor: mask is symbolic for deception because people often hide
behind masks to hide various different things. Throughout the poem, the mask is
used to show how the speaker is really feeling. Behind the mask hides the lies,
tears and sighs, and cries that the speaker talks about throughout the poem
because to the world the speaker smiles to hide his pain from those around him.