We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar
"We Wear the Mask" by Paul Laurence Dunbar is a poignant poem that explores themes of identity, suffering, and social dissembling. Written at the end of the nineteenth century, the poem features a collective speaker who embodies a specific segment of society, reflecting a shared experience of hiding true emotions behind a facade. The titular "mask" symbolizes the necessity of presenting a false front to the world, masking deep-rooted pain and misery that remains unseen. While the speaker conveys an outward appearance of joy and contentment, the underlying message reveals a stark contrast between this facade and the harsh realities of life. The poem’s repeated refrain emphasizes the struggle against societal expectations and the desire to maintain dignity in the face of overwhelming hardship. Dunbar employs a solemn tone and careful word choices to challenge readers to look beyond stereotypes and simplistic interpretations of those who endure silent suffering. This work serves as a muted protest against the invisibility of such struggles, particularly for the marginalized, inviting contemplation on the complexities of human emotion and societal perception.
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We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar
First published: 1896, in Lyrics of Lowly Life
Type of poem: Verse essay
The Poem
Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask” combines salient features of verse essay and poetic meditation as it examines the need for a special kind of social dissembling in the world in which the author lived at the end of the nineteenth century. The poem presents readers with a speaker who speaks in first-person plural, as “we” and never simply “I.” This clearly indicates that the speaker should be regarded as representing a particular or special segment of society. The opening stanza of the poem indicates that the group represented by the speaker pays a “debt” to “human guile” by wearing a “mask that grins and lies.” This does not provide any indication that the speaker is not simply speaking for all human beings who have at some time engaged in pretending to be happy when they really are sad.
However, in the second stanza, the idea that the speaker is representing a particular segment of society becomes clearer when the poem indicates that “the world” need not be aware of the true feelings of the sufferers. Indeed, the speaker suggests that the world should only be allowed to “see us, while/ We wear the mask.” This suggests something beyond merely dissembling for the sake of duplicity or dishonesty.
This mask that “grins and lies” is hiding the existence of excruciating misery and suffering. The speaker says, “We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries/ To thee from tortured souls arise.” There can be no doubt that these people are enduring overwhelming hardships. There is also no doubt that they are determined not to let “the world” know about the true nature of their feelings. This sets up an ironic emotional contrast between what the people are experiencing and what others are witnessing while observing these people.
The speaker says, “We sing, but oh the clay is vile/ Beneath our feet, and long the mile.” This brings to mind the concept of pretending to be happy when one is sad or the practice of whistling a happy tune to conceal one’s fears. Yet, the image of these “tortured souls” slogging through long, weary miles of vile clay presents a picture of people enduring hardships far beyond anything that might be induced by ordinary fear or sadness.
The poem closes with a repetition of a sentiment stated earlier: “But let the world dream otherwise,/ We wear the mask!” The people show a dogged determination to keep the true nature of their sufferings to themselves and to present to others an outward show of happiness and lack of care. Surely, such insistence on deception must be motivated by powerful feelings resulting from terrifying experiences. Such were the experiences of many people enslaved in the United States before the birth of this poet.
Forms and Devices
Paul Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask” is sometimes referred to as a “muted protest” poem. It is frequently discussed in connection with another poem of his, entitled “Sympathy.” Any protest in “We Wear the Mask” is vaguely implied and never openly stated. Instead, the poem informs readers that what they might see and hear might not be the whole truth, or even an accurate partial truth, about a group of humans who might appear on the surface to be quite simple and totally lacking in any complexity of emotion or thought patterns.
The thematic statement “We wear the mask” begins the opening line of this fifteen-line poem. It is repeated as a refrain at the ends of both the second and third stanzas. The final time, it is followed by an exclamation point, which emphasizes the essential importance of this idea. Thus, the reader is being told to keep this masking practice in mind while reading the poem and while attempting to evaluate an outwardly simplistic group of people.
Dunbar makes use of only two rhyme sounds in this solemn meditation. While the word “subtleties” at the end of stanza 1 does not actually rhyme with “lies” and “eyes,” it provides an example of eye rhyme. That is to say, it looks as if it could rhyme with those other words. The poet’s use of “myriad” and “subtleties” together might send younger readers scurrying for the dictionary. At the same time, it sends to readers already familiar with Dunbar as a writer of poetry in so-called “Negro dialect” the message that this poet can be effective in Standard English and can use “mouth” as a verb without seeming pretentious.
Dunbar’s reputation as a dialect poet was not without some justification. Although he wrote in many different dialects, his poems in plantation dialect were particularly popular. Most readers and listeners tended to miss the serious messages in the dialect pieces, concentrating more on how things were said than on what was actually being said. Therefore, Dunbar wrote the majority of his poetry in Standard English. The diction and style employed in “We Wear the Mask” never stray from deadly serious and consistently solemn. Readers are constantly reminded to look beyond the surface if they would like to get at the truth and not be satisfied with stereotypes.
The poet himself had to battle against stereotypes in his life as a professional writer as well as in living as a black man in a country that did not accord much merit to black people. In poems such as this one, he could give literary expression to thoughts and feelings which some readers might have considered inappropriate for such a person as Dunbar. The poet knew not to push the subject-matter boundaries so far as to prevent his writings from being published, but he also felt an obligation to give a voice to the ideals and aspirations of a people who had been denied an effective voice for so long.
Bibliography
Alexander, Eleanor. Lyrics of Sunshine and Shadow: The Tragic Courtship and Marriage of Paul Laurence Dunbar and Alice Ruth Moore. Albany: New York University Press, 2001.
Best, Felton O. Crossing the Color Line: A Biography of Paul Laurence Dunbar. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt, 1996.
Bone, Robert. Down Home: Origins of the Afro-American Short Story. New York: Columbia University Press, 1988.
Hudson, Gossie Harold. A Biography of Paul Laurence Dunbar. Baltimore: Gateway Press, 1999.
Revell, Peter. Paul Laurence Dunbar. Boston: Twayne, 1979.
Turner, Darwin T. “Paul Laurence Dunbar: The Rejected Symbol.” Journal of Negro History, January, 1967, 1-13.
Wagner, Jean. “Paul Laurence Dunbar.” In Black Poets of the United States from Paul Laurence Dunbar to Langston Hughes, translated by Kenneth Douglas. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1973.