In class on Thursday we read the poem "We Wear the Mask" by Paul Laurence Dunbar. After reading it the first time I felt like I could really relate to what the poem was saying. Yes, I feel like so often our society hides behind masks, pretending like we are okay and we are happy. I know I do this so often. My friend will walk by and say "Hey how are you?" and even if I'm having the worst day of my life or if I'm sick, I still respond with a "Good". I don't want to spill my guts and appear emotional or "weak". Our society is the same way. It seems necessary to "hide" or "mask" who we are constantly. I was a little unsure if I was translating the meaning of "we" correctly because we didn't have any background on the poem. But I felt confident that it somehow related to our culture and our identity.
The meaning of the poem changed completely for me once we learned that Dunbar was African American and the son of slaves. Obviously this poem was meant to be about oppression of African Americans during the years of slavery. I can't relate to that pain and suffering considering I've never experienced it. Immediately the relation I had built between myself and the poem/poet ended. But that doesn't mean that the poem wasn't good and that the meaning of the poem can't be a universal thing. It just alters it a bit and the reader realizes that the poet could have had a specific "we" in mind when writing the poem.
I find I do this a lot when reading literature. I look to see how it can impact my life and bring meaning to what I've experienced or understand. I do this a lot when reading the bible and scripture. Whatever I read for that day somehow I work so that it can have a personal meaning or impact on me. I don't think this way of reading is necessarily good. I believe that as a reader I need to take the background and context of the poet/author and the book/poem into consideration when reading. This doesn't mean that the poem isn't relevant to my life it just means that I can't assume from the start that the poet is talking directly to me. Or should I? Is the point of poetry and writing to connect to the reader no matter who the poet or author intended the audience to be?
2 comments:
When reading your post, I definitely identified with everything you said. I also thought the poem was talking directly to me until I found out the background. And yes, I think it is important to read about the background of a poem, but I guess I also like poems that speak to me... for in a lot of ways, isn't this why we read in the first place? We want to be able to identify with the author, and in effect, know that someone out there feels what we feel. And yet, it definitely poses a problem when we really can't understand what the poet was writing about. But does that also mean that, even if we can't understand completely, that the poem can't speak to us or make us at least somewhat aware of something we have never known?
I can identify with you as I do it a lot...Well, I guess literature has the purpose of moving us readers. If it touches us in unique and varied ways that the author was unaware of when he wrote the piece, I think he can't help it. It goes to show how effective his writing is. But of course, we can't discount the fact that we need the author's real intentions for writing to appreciate the literature better and apply it's message correctly in our lives.
Post a Comment