1. GET IN GROUPS OF 2 Paul Laurence Dunbar “Douglass” “We Wear the Mask”

2. Paul Laurence Dunbar (Record on your own notes page) Turn to page 656 Read over Dunbar’s mini biography and write down 5 facts him. (i.e. birth, death, time period he wrote during, what influenced his writing, etc.)

3. “We Wear the Mask” (Record on your group work piece of paper) Turn to page 660 Answer the following: 1) What emotions does the mask hide? 2) Who are the “we” in this poem? 3) What struggles do they face? 4) What is the rhyme scheme for all three stanzas? 5) What slant rhyme(s) does Dunbar use in this poem? 6) List all the words that are true rhymes with the word lies.

4. Frederick Douglass Was a born a slave Mistress taught him the alphabet but was later forbid to continue teaching him Douglass took it upon himself to learn At the age of 20, Douglass succeeded in escaping from slavery by impersonating a sailor Douglass became a lecturer for the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society and a colleague of William Lloyd Garrison He began giving public speeches and participated in the women’s rights convention in 1848 He was internationally recognized as an uncompromising abolitionist and was a trusted advisor to Abraham Lincoln

5. “Douglass” Read “Douglass” on page 659 Answer the following: 2) What feelings/emotions can you identify from the speaker while reading this poem? 3) What words/phrases seemed to have particular importance? Can you tell why? 4) Who is the Douglass to whom Dunbar refers to? 5) Why do you think the speaker addresses Douglass? 6) The rhyme scheme, or pattern, in the first stanza of “Douglass” can be expressed as a-b-b-a-a-b-b-a (the letter a stands for words rhyming with days and the letter b stands for words rhyming with know). What is the rhyme scheme for the second stanza?