A few weeks ago, we looked at the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar, focusing on his famous poem "We Wear the Mask". For Dunbar, the mask symbolizes the false face that African-Americans had to wear in the late 19th century and into the early 20th century. Though the man behind the mask is bleeding and hurting, the mask will always portray a smile and an optimism that isn't mirrored by the man behind the mask. Years later, now that Civil Rights movements have made a lasting impression that forever changed the way the world looks at race, poets can now shift their focus from the mask to what lies behind the mask. This concept is looked at more in-depth from the past-poet Langston Hughes, and the present poet Imamu Amiri Baraka.
In Langston Hughes' poem "My People", Hughes shifts the focus from wearing the mask to what lies behind the mask. Hughes writes:
The night is beautiful,
So the faces of my people.
The stars are beautiful,
So the eyes of my people.
Beautiful, also, is the sun.
Beautiful, also, are the souls of my people.
The illustration of the mask has been made clear by Hughes' time, and the question is no longer whether black people wear a mask or not. Instead, Hughes decides to use his expertise to pen down the idea of what lies behind the mask for those who have been forced to wear it for years. He illustrates a beauty of his people that has been hidden for as long as they've had to dawn the mask. He writes that his people are as beautiful as the night, with their eyes as beautiful as the stars in the sky and their souls as beautiful as the sun. This is an important shift in black history, to where now the mask has been removed to show the beauty behind it.
Imamu Amiri Baraka also constructs a very powerful poem that shares the same effect as Hughes'. The poem "Ka 'Ba" not only illustrates the beauty of a once-masked people, but the pride of their culture as well. Baraka writes:
We are beautiful people
with African imaginations
full of masks and dances and swelling chants
Baraka refers to a different type of mask...the physical mask traditionally worn by African tribes. Baraka wants to show the beauty of not only his people, but the culture as well. The entire poem is a call for black people to stop fighting each other, and a call to unity. He uses these words to highlight unity by tracing a similar background. The issue has changed to a point where we no longer need to see the mask worn by black people, but the beauty of the face and the culture that lies behind that mask.
Suggested poetry site of the week: http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/
I agree with what you wrote about concerning Hughes. With the mask taken off, Hughes is able to characterize African-Americans in the same light that God made them, in their beauty. It saddens me to think that there was a time when masks had to be worn due to racial persecution, but it also reveals the fact that people still wear masks, just for different reason. Why do we care so much about being accepted to the point that we hide our true identities? I find though Hughes is speaking of African-Americans, his illustrations of the beauty that was behind the masks still hold true to all who choose to wear masks for whatever reason.
ReplyDelete