Poetry Synopsis

Paul Laurence Dunbar is one of my most favorite poets. Although I am only familiar with a few of his poems he is the author of several works. The works include a collection of poetry titled Oak and Ivy, published in 1892 and Majors and Minors (1895). Dunbar also wrote a dozen books of poetry, four books of short stories, five novels, and a play. My favorite poem from this author is We Wear the Mask which appeared in Dunbar's first professionally published volume, Lyrics of Lowly Life, in 1896 when Dunbar was 23 years old. This poem is relatable to any culture and has a certain flexibility that allows it to be interpreted several different ways. Since the poet is African-American many may dismiss it and see this work as being only for Blacks. While the work is referring to Blacks in America, Blacks are not the only group of people in the world that wear masks homosexuals, teenagers, women and men all feel that they must put on a mask to fool others. The mask refers to faces and facades people must put on to pass for happy when they are really sad.
For many years African Americans have had to wear masks to endure the hardships of oppression, injustice, racism and stereotypes. In his poem Dunbar reveals that behind our forced submissiveness, singing, and plastered smiles are tears and heartaches. The author writes “it hides our cheeks and shades our eyes” to convey that the mask veil the parts of our face that are most telling. Our eyes and cheeks are covered so as to hide out tear-stained cheeks and the hurt in our eyes.
I think students would be able to identify with this work for various reasons. There may be students in my class who are being abused, are struggling with their identities/sexuality or coping with a loss of some kind. Instead of verbalizing their emotions or wearing a frown all the time the students may prefer to suffer in silence unbeknownst to their family and friends. In repressing their true feelings the students are wearing a mask to hide their pain.
We Wear the Mask can be dissected in a cacophony of ways and used for any secondary grade level. This poem can be used to introduce students to literary criticisms, assigned for students to memorize or utilized with a unit to introduce social issues. In my classroom I would use it to introduce literary criticisms like Marxism and Queer Theory.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Poetry in Unconventional Places

1. Don't let the car fool you my real treasure is in heaven.( car bumper sticker)
2. Do Not Enter. (road sign)
3. All men die my friend, but it's what we do before we die that counts. (character in the movie Vertical Limit)
4. Contract Pending.(on a construction site sign)