If & We Wear the Mask

• Types of Literary Theories

  • Historical
  • Naturalist
  • Allegorical
• Allegorical


  A literary piece that has a hidden meaning beyond what the text says
• Literary Theories concern the type of content the literary piece uses
• Naturalist


  Gives emphasis to human nature
• Historical


  Looking at the literary work while considering historical events
• Paul Laurence Dunbar was born


  1865
• Paul Laurence Dunbar was born to his African-American parents, who were Kentucky slaves during the civil war (1865)
• Paul Laurence Dunbar died


  1906
• Paul Laurence Dunbar


  • Had a passion for writing since he was young
  • Landed a job in Dayton Tattler
  • Wrote about how black people were treated unfairly even after slavery ended
  • Encouraged other African-American people to speak up on this topic
  • Wrote very structural literature to show that colored people are just as capable
• Concealing their true feelings and opinions


  Due to fear that they will have their “freedom” and “rights” taken away again
• "We Wear the Mask" uses the Historical approach
• "We Wear the Mask" is considered one of his best works, even cited by scholars
• WWTW: Written and appeared in his 2nd volume of poetry

  1895
• Wearing a mask


  Concealing their true feelings and opinions
• The syllabic count of We Wear the Mask is?

  8 counts
• How many stanzas in We Wear the Mask?

  3
• How many lines in stanza 1 of We Wear the Mask?

  5
• The refrain in WWTM is We Wear the Mask
• Rhyme Scheme of WWTM is?

  AABBC

  AABC

  AABBAAC
• The debt we pay to human guile

  Explain the line from stanza 1

  To be guile means to be deceitful and cunning.
• And mouth with myriad subtleties

  What do myriad subtleties mean?

  It means that we keep a great number (myriad) of challenges subtle.
• Why should the world be over-wise,

  What does this excerpt mean?


  The world can be cruel, and invalidate our emotions, and challenges.
• What is a Rondeau?

  3 stanzas with a refrain
• The refrain in a Rondeau is the 1st of the first stanza that is repeated in the 2nd and 3rd stanza.

  Its goal is to emphasize the statement and meaning.