We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)

We Wear the Mask

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!

Since our next unit is poetry, I thought I'd try a poetry connection to LOTF this week. Paul Dunbar lived after the Civil War, yet he focused much of his poetry on plantation life.  This poem is really referring to life as a slave.  

What connections can you make to LOTF with this poem?  Did the boys live the lives of slaves on the island? What universal theme do you see?

Musical Connections to LOTF

When I first heard the song,"Devil in Me" by the 22-20s, the lyrics immediately made me think of Lord of the Flies and William Golding's ideas about man's essential illness-the evil within us all. The guitars and drums also create this frenzy that I can see emphasizing the mood for the scene where the boys kill the sow in Chapter 8.



Your task this week is to create a musical score for a new LOTF movie. You will find a song that you feel connects to any of the scenes or characters in the book. The lyrics don't have to be a direct, literal interpretation of the novel. Maybe it's the music in your song that is setting the mood for a scene from the book. Now is your chance to be creative.



Give me the title, the artist, some of the lyrics, and an explanation of the connection for you.

22-20s - devil in me