We Wear the Mask

“Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1899)

This is another one of Dunbar’s famous poems, which Maya Angelou referenced with her autobiography titled “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings,” after a line in the poem. Like We Wear the Mask makes use of the image of a mask as an extended metaphor to explore themes of oppression and identity, this poem uses the image of a bird in a cage to explore the same thing. What is a bird without its wings, a human without freedom?

“The Parlement of Foules” by Geoffrey Chaucer (1381-1382)

This is an excerpt of a poem in a form reminiscent of “We Wear the Mask,” written and performed while it was popular in the 14th and 15th centuries. As was typical then, the poem’s form made it easier to memorize and recite with its sing-song rhyme patterns. It’s possible Dunbar used this form in response to his popularity with his dialectic poems, showing the depth of his knowledge and skills in poetry.

“The Mask” by Maya Angelou (1987)

Written in direct conversation with Dunbar’s poem, in many ways, it picks up the conversation of oppression, racism, identity, and freedom, right where Dunbar left it; more specifically, the suffering of African Americans that continued on as a legacy of America’s history with racism, something Maya Angelou experienced and wrote about extensively.