Two poems I love reading are “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar and “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop. In the poem written by Paul, the title kind of replicates to what the situation is now in New York because people need to wear their mask to not get themselves sick by others that has the coronavirus. The first two lines says “We wear the mask that grins and lies, it hides our cheeks and shades our eyes” and I feel like the virus is related to the title of the poem because the stuff we’re dealing now is not gonna go away faster the day goes. Last but not least, the poem written by Elizabeth was talking about how losing can’t be hard to master. When we’re losing something valuable, think smart again about putting it somewhere safe. This quote in the article says “Lose something every day. Accept the fluster of lost door keys, the hour badly spent” means just accept the fact you lost your stuff that means so much to you, you can get a new one that’s not on you anymore.
While I see where you are coming from, I do not agree with your analysis of the first poem. After reading it myself, I start to realize that this poem is less about the coronavirus situation in New York and it is instead about the trials and tribulations that African Americans had to go through after being released from slavery. The “mask” in the poem relates to the mask that black people had to wear in order to blend into society. They were forced to bear the abuse of the world all while keeping a fake smile just to live to see another day. However, I agree with your analysis of the second poem. I believe and agree that this poem is about accepting loss and how we all eventually lose something that means something to us, no matter how precious or important it is to us.
These two poems kinda link together by the situation we are in right now. If someone in your household didn’t wear a mask and caught the coronavirus, they may lose their lives. When that happens, the grief and the pain it brought to others will be hard to master. and the politicians who want to retain the economy by ignoring the facts are also wearing the mask of lies.
I agree, the two poems link to whats happening now. We’re losing something everyday due to the virus. No matter how big or how small it is things just won’t be the same. Society won’t be the same. NYC definitely won’t be the same which is sad but it’s the reality.