1. Written BY: Rebecca Lindenberg Created by: Lexie Cook
Carnival
Written BY: Rebecca Lindenberg
Created by: Lexie Cook

2. To- Vainly my heart had with thy sorceries striven:
It had no refuge from thy love,—no Heaven
But in thy fatal presence;—from afar
It owned thy power and trembled like a star
O’erfraught with light and splendor. Could I deem
How dark a shadow should obscure its beam?—
Could I believe that pain could ever dwell
Where thy bright presence cast its blissful spell?
Thou wert my proud palladium;—could I fear
The avenging Destinies when thou wert near?—
Thou wert my Destiny;—thy song, thy fame,
The wild enchantments clustering round thy name,
Were my soul’s heritage, its royal dower;
Its glory and its kingdom and its power!
To-

3. Carnival Structure of the poem: 1 stanza 17 lines
The mask that burns like violin, the mask That sings only dead languages, that loves The destruction of being put on. The mask That sighs like a woman even though A woman wears it. The mask beaded with Freshwater pearls, with seeds. The plumed mask, The mask with a sutured mouth, a moonface, With healed gash that means harvest. A glower That hides wanting. A grotesque pucker. Here’s A beaked mask, a braided mask, here’s a mask without eyes, a mask that looks like a mask But isn’t- please don’t try to unribbon it. The mask that snows coins, the mask full of wasps. Lace mask to net escaping thoughts. Pass me The roughed mask, the one made of sheet music Or the jackal mask, the hide-bound mask That renders lovers identical with night.
Carnival
Structure of the poem:
1 stanza
17 lines
There is no rhyme scheme.

4. Rebecca Lindenberg
Lindenberg was awarded a 2013 Amy Lowell Travelling Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Grant, a Fellowship from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and a 2012 Residency from the MacDowell Arts Colony. She won the 2015 Utah Book Award, too.
She has a Ph.D. in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Utah. She also earned a BA from the College of William & Mary.
Lindenberg now teaches Creative Writing program at the University of Cincinnati.

5. Speaker
The speaker seems to be a person who’s not confident in their looks and has self esteem issues.
This person also wants to fit into the crowd better than he/she already is.

6. Tone
The tone is more or less, depressing and emotional. This helps us comprehend what it’s like to difficulties with the way you feel about yourself.
Simile
“The mask that burns like a violin,” This compares a mask burning your feelings and a violin which is made out of wood, so it will burn to ashes.

7. Sensory Language
Throughout the whole entire poem, Lindenberg uses sensory language. “Lace mask to net escaping thoughts.”
Personification
A mask is said to only sing dead languages, “the mask that sings only dead languages.”
Conflict
There is also a lot of conflict between the speaker and his/her feelings, “A glower that hides wanting. A grotesque pucker.”

8. “The mask beaded with freshwater pearls, with seeds.”
Imagery
“The mask beaded with freshwater pearls, with seeds.”
This made me think of a mask that had freshwater pearls in it.
“Pass me the rouged mask, the one made of sheet music.”
This brought an image of sheet music to my head.
“Here’s a beaked mask,”
A mask with a beak came to my mind.

9. Literal Meaning
The literal meaning of this poem is that there are people putting on masks of different kinds to represent different things at a carnival.

10. Figurative Meaning
The figurative meaning is that there is someone who is hiding themselves from everybody behind a mask, where there is no shame in who you truly are.
They don’t want anybody to see the real them, or expose them. As it says, “here’s a mask that looks like a mask but isn’t-please don’t try to unribbon it.”
This poem refers to people at a carnival where everyone is the same, because of their masks.

11. Authors Purpose
The authors purpose is to tell people not to hide from themselves and to not cover up what makes you, you.

12. Theme
The theme of this poem is that people will hide what they truly are, but it doesn’t make them any less than what everyone else may be.
The person in the poem is hiding their identity behind masks throughout the whole poem.

13. Sites used www.rebeccalindenberg.com www.poetryoutloud.org
Music/dp/B00RY6QUDO
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