Paul Laurence Dunbar By: Janine Thomsen

Biography Born in Dayton Ohio on June 27, Died at the age of 33. He wrote a large body of dialect poems, standard English poems, essays, novels and short stories before he died. His mother was a former slave and his father had escaped from slavery and served in the 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment

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. Why should the world be overwise, In counting all our tears and sighs? Nay, let them only see us, while We near the mask.

We Wear The Mask (cont.) We smile, but, o great Christ, our cries To Thee from tortured souls arise. We sing, but, oh, the day is vile Beneath our feet, and long the mile; But let the world dream otherwise, We wear the mask

What the poem means This poem is saying that even though we smile on the outside there could be something so wrong on the inside. We hide behind our so called “masks” so other people can’t see who we really are because we are afraid of what other people think. We are so concentrated on the social norms that we feel the need to cover up who we really are.

Faces By: Scary Kids Scaring Kids Would you agree that we're far from all right? We fall below the line! We fall below the standards! If only you could see What we see through these eyes (This flag is burning, it will sink under your skin!) I won't believe the horror that I see It's more than your poison inside me Lets tear away these faces we hide behind Cutting through the airwaves Open up our minds Show ourselves to the world tonight Cause we are.. No longer in disguise! Well, I’m aware of your lies, how do you sleep at night? It's all a matter of time, I think their catching on You dream of wars, that I refuse to fight While people disappear, another broken heart I won't believe the horror that I see It's more than your poison inside me I won't let go, while the plague is spreading I won't let go Well, I’m aware of your lies, how do you sleep at night? It's all a matter of time, I think their catching on You dream of wars, that I refuse to fight While people disappear, another broken heart I won't believe the horror that I see It's more than your poison inside me I won't let go, while the plague is spreading I won't let go

Let's tear away these faces we hide behind Cutting through the airwaves Open up our minds Show ourselves to the world tonight Cause we are… No longer in disguise! We can save ourselves (Rise Up!) You can't stop us We can save our soul (Rise Up!) We don’t need your help We can save ourselves (Rise Up!) You can’t stop us Let's tear away these faces we hide behind Cutting through the airwaves Open up our minds Show ourselves to the world tonight Cause we are… No longer in disguise! Tear away these faces Tear away these faces Tear away these faces We're no longer in disguise!

How this song relates to the poem: This song relates to the poem because is talks about how we hide behind “masks” because we fall below the standards. Also, it says how they refuse to do things that people want them to do that they don’t want to do.