O Make Me a Mask
O Make Me a Mask - meaning Summary
Masking Inner Vulnerability
The speaker asks for a mask and wall to hide from prying eyes, shielding vulnerable thought beneath an outwardly false, armored face. He prefers staged expressions—a tearful widower or the blunt countenance of a dunce—to deflect scrutiny and protect the "trumpet of lies" and the "glistening brain." The poem examines self-concealment, deliberate performance, and the gap between visible gestures and inner feeling.
Read Complete AnalysesO make me a mask and a wall to shut from your spies Of the sharp, enamelled eyes and the spectacled claws Rape and rebellion in the nurseries of my face, Gag of dumbstruck tree to block from bare enemies The bayonet tongue in this undefended prayerpiece, The present mouth, and the sweetly blown trumpet of lies, Shaped in old armour and oak the countenance of a dunce To shield the glistening brain and blunt the examiners, And a tear-stained widower grief drooped from the lashes To veil belladonna and let the dry eyes perceive Others betray the lamenting lies of their losses By the curve of the nude mouth or the laugh up the sleeve.
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