Writing Resources
We Wear the Mask Paul Lawrence Dunbar's We Wear the Mask is dated in 1896 it reveals the personal frustration of the poet and it also examines a particular kind of truth of black race in America and how they hide their sorrow broken hearts under a mask for their survival The poem focuses on how people are afraid to open up and how they hide their reality behind a mask My essay will reveal some of the important facts Dunbar portrays through his poem and it will also discuss that why we need to wear a mask Why we never show our true character or emotion to the world Why are we afraid to be our own self And if the poem was written during the current era it would still create a significant impact because it determines the rare reality of the world The poem was written during the post civil war when African Americans had rights meanwhile racial discrimination was still prevalent The most part of the poem is written in iambic tetrameter with a repetitive rhyme pattern
