Question

In the poem "We Wear the Mask," Paul Laurence Dunbar uses a relatively structured rhyme scheme in his depiction of a community putting up a facade and pretending to be something else. Is there a time in which you acted in a way that was contrary to your own feelings? Perhaps you hoped to live up to the way others wanted to see you. Perhaps you did something that you weren’t comfortable doing in order to fit in.

Write a poem describing what you did and how you felt. Experiment with the rhyme scheme in your poem, just as modern poets did. After your poem, include a brief explanation of the rhyme scheme, structure, and literary devices that you used.

Answer 1

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Here is a sample poem followed by an explanation:

In this neighborhood in Queens,

I watch the neighbor teens

play without a care,

As alone I sit and stare.

I don’t play basketball

for I’m not very tall.

They dribble and drive forward,

While I sit and look onward.

Anyway I would rather write

Than shoot, dodge, and fight.

I decided to join them today,

I wondered what they would say

No knowledge or skill,

Just there for the thrill,

And so they turned me away,

They didn’t let me have my say.

Just because I’m not tall

doesn’t mean I can’t play ball!

Anyway I would rather write

Than shoot, dodge, and fight.

This poem uses a set end rhyme scheme, aabb ccdd ee. There is also a set structure. The first and second stanzas have four lines, the third has two, the fourth and fifth stanzas have four, and the sixth has two. Some of the thoughts run across lines, using enjambment. Also, the repetition of the lines in the third stanza, which also make up the sixth stanza, highlight the speaker’s denial of feeling bad about being excluded.

Step-by-step explanation:

Taken straight from edmentum

Answer 2

Stifling scream

The voice silent by the impetus itself

The isurped will

And the fear reaching

Everyday life seems blatant

But it is silent as a suffocating cry.

Shame is unjustified

Because no reason is observed

I only have the inadequacy

And living with loneliness.

Step-by-step explanation:

Suffocating scream above refers to the feelings of a very introverted and shy person who wants to talk and make friends with people, but cannot and is suffocated by herself.

The poem was written in two stanzas, one with 5 verses and one with four verses. Free and metophoric rhymes with a literary device were used.