Read the following poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar (first published in 1895) carefully before choosing your answer.
We Wear the Mask
[1] We wear the mask that grins and lies,
[2] It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
[3] This debt we pay to human guile;
[4] With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
[5] And mouth with myriad subtleties.
[6] Why should the world be over-wise,
[7] In counting all our tears and sighs?
[8] Nay, let them only see us, while
[9] We wear the mask.
[10] We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
[11] To thee from tortured souls arise.
[12] We sing, but oh the clay is vile
[13] Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
[14] But let the world dream otherwise,
[15] We wear the mask!
In the context of the poem’s closed rondeau structure, how does the repetition of the short refrain line "We wear the mask" (lines 9 and 15) contribute to the development of the poem's theme?
- AIt serves to document the author’s personal, autobiographical struggle with performing for theatre audiences in the late nineteenth century.
- BIt acts as a decorative auditory device typical of the rondeau form, serving primarily to satisfy the metrical requirement of the fifteen-line structure without shifting the thematic focus.
- It punctuates the stanzas with a recurring reminder of the inescapable necessity of concealment, transforming the mask into a structural representation of psychological confinement.Answer
- DIt establishes and maintains a consistently cheerful and resilient tone, showing that the collective speakers remain untroubled despite societal challenges.
- EIt functions as a grammatically independent statement of defiance, ignoring how the enjambment in the preceding line connects the refrain directly to the world's observation.