PLEASE HELP!!!! We Wear the Mask
By Paul Lawrence Dunbar
We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile
And mouth with myriad subtleties,
Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.
We smile, but oh great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile,
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!
Throughout the poem “We Wear The Mask” Dunbar describes people living through …
A) a time of happiness and discovery.
B) a time of self-reflection.
C) a time of great prosperity.
D) a time of suffering.
2)
The pronoun “we”, used throughout “We Wear The Mask” demonstrates …
A) that the poet’s goal is to only reach those in the 19th century.
B) the speaker of the poem is representing a group of people.
C) the speaker of the poem is an individual.
D) the speaker of the poem is not capable of making big decisions.
3)
Sympathy
By Paul Laurence Dunbar
I know what the caged bird feels, alas!
When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;
When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,
And the river flows like a stream of glass;
When the first bird sings and the first bud opens,
And the faint perfume from its chalice steals—
I know what the caged bird feels!

I know why the caged bird beats his wing
Till its blood is red on the cruel bars;
For he must fly back to his perch and cling
When he fain would be on the bough a-swing;
And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars
And they pulse again with a keener sting—
I know why he beats his wing!

I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,
When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,—
When he beats his bars and he would be free;
It is not a carol of joy or glee,
But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core,
But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings—
I know why the caged bird sings!
African American’s had been through the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 and the 13th Amendment in 1865, which freed all slaves. However, in the late 1800’s African American’s were still discriminated against and, more often than not, treated as lower-class citizens.

Dunbar captures the “never give up” spirit of African Americans in the late 1800’s in his poems. Which lines from the poem “Sympathy” demonstrate this spirit?
A) And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars
And they pulse again with a keener sting—
I know why he beats his wing!
B) When he beats his bars and he would be free;
It is not a carol of joy or glee,
C) When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;
D) When the first bird sings and the first bud opens,
And the faint perfume from its chalice steals—
I know what the caged bird feels!
4)
The bird in “Sympathy” represents which literary element?
A) Imagery
B) Foreshadowing
C) Metaphor
D) Simile
5)
In both poems, Dunbar presents the harmful effects of ______ as a theme.
A) racism
B) keeping birds in cages
C) prolonged mask wearing
D) suffering lol