Analyzing Mood and Voice in Poetry: Mastery

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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, O 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!

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What effect does the poet achieve by repeating the phrase "We wear the mask" throughout the poem?

Complete the sentence to answer the question.

In the poem "We Wear the Mask," Paul Laurence Dunbar voices his repressed anger and frustration toward American society. He repeats the title phrase ______ times in the poem, using the words "mask" and "we" to show that ______.

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