Personification and Metaphor in two of Paul Dunbar´s Poems

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The poem “ We Wear the Mask” was written by Paul Laurence Dunbar .The poem is about the mask, humans wear to disguise pain, sadness, or turmoil when in the company of others. The speaker opens with the title of the poem so that readers know that the “mask” is really important.In the beginning of the poem we see that the people’s hearts are not just"torn" (4) but also "bleeding" (4). which really emphasizes the struggle behind the mask. The poem is about people who have a lot of pain, but pretend it is not there by wearing a mask to cover it up.The poem is universal, but it says “We" (1.) At the end of the poem the people still continue to smile while dying on the inside. They believe that it is no good reason to show anyone what’s behind the mask because it will do them no justice. To them the only person that knows what is behind the mask is God.
In "We Wear The Mask”, Paul Laurence Dunbar describes how people purposely change their external appearances and how this can be both detrimental and helpful. He does this through metaphors and personification. Personification is in the title of the poem, “ We Wear the Mask,” (1) which suggest that he is personifying the mask because people wear it like it is a second face or alive. Dunbar gives the mask human characteristics because the people have allowed the mask to go from being temporarily on their face to permananent. It is ironic that they wear the mask to conceal their suffering, but it causes them to suffer more. Dunbar also uses metaphors to exaggerate the emotions in the poems. He uses metaphor when the poem says “ the clay is vile” (12). The metaphor provides a more visual feeling so that the audience can understand that even the earth that they walk on rejects them. Per...

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...plete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company. 1922 Print.
Dunbar, Laurence Paul. “ After the Quarrel”. The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company. 1922 Print
Dunbar, Laurence Paul. “ We Wear the Mask.” The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. Eds. Gates, Henry Louis and Nellie Y. Mckay. New York: W.W. Norton, 1977. Print.
Dunbar, Laurence Paul. “ Temptation “. The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar. W.D. Howells: Dodd, Mead, and Company New York. 1922. Print.
“The Life of Paul Laurence Dunbar." The Life of Paul Laurence Dunbar. N.p., 3 Feb. 2003. Web.
Howells, William D. "Publishers' Bindings Online: Paul Laurence Dunbar." Publishers' Bindings Online: Paul Laurence Dunbar. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
"Paul Laurence Dunbar." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2014.

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