Can you paraphrase this?

Question

"With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,/ And moutch with myriad subtleties."

"With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,/ And mouth with myriad subtleties."

Answer 1

They sound heart-broken that they can't do more than just talk, and then they have to just say subtleties to express themselves, nothing outright.

Answer 2

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."
-Paul Laurence Dunbar

Throughout the poem Dunbar defends why he feels there is a need to hide the true self. This can be a coping mechanism because historically slaves had to hide their true feelings from their white masters. The masks Dunbar writes about hides and separates the viewer from the viewed just like a performer’s mask on stage is different from real life. An actor wears different personalities as part of their job just like wearing a mask. In this context Dunbar shows that wearing the mask as much of a job as well as necessity that he dislikes doing it but he has no choice. This can be seen when Dunbar writes, But let the world dream other wise We wear the mask! (15-16) Dunbar could also be writing about himself he pretends to be what he wasn’t in order to gain acceptance by his peers. As the son of ex-slaves Dunbar could have suffered discrimination and rejection
The debt for human guile is that we as people on the whole can’t show true the real feelings and emotion without fear of having it being used against us.
The narrator notices that society emphasizes that a happy exterior more important than the well being of the individual. On the other hand because since we wouldn’t greet guests naked then we would not greet the outside w!

orld without wearing the mask. Nay let them only see us, while We wear the mask (8-10). of lying and wearing a good face still applies today because we all say, “How are you?” We greet people by asking how they are doing when we expect to hear, “I’m fine, thank you or something to that extent. With torn and bleeding hearts we smile, And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Answer 3

We Wear The Mask Paraphrase

Answer 4

Put on a happy face.

Answer 5

mmmm... donuts....aaaaaah