Journal # 1

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 overwise,
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!

S=>a person who is suffering from the society
O=> to tell one his feelings
A=>Anyone that wants to listen
P=> to express ones inner feeling
S=>Expressing ideas
Tone=>Sadness

A pattern i noticed was that it kept repeating we wear the mask at the end of the two stanzas.
At the end of every other line, they rhyme. It rhymes also with the beginning of the every other line. The diction of the poem shows us that the tone is depresing for example, cries and sighs.

Personal Response
This poem relates to today because most people are not who they really are and can not express their true ideas because society doesn't let anyone be any thing other than being the stereotypically American. Just recently, I read a article concerning of Fijians at Fiji who have to adjust to American Culture because they had seen American programs, which showed the size one should be. They had worn masks to cover up their pain and suffering from the judgement of others. Some would tell them their fat or overwieght but they would never tell them how they feel instead they would try to be skinner.