Masks

With a direct, authoritative tone, the poem opens with a declaration concerning a person and the color of her skin. The person isn’t named but referred to as “she” (Lines 1, 4). The “she” is a character, which turns the poem into a narrative poem—a poem that narrates a story, typically (if implicitly) to an audience.

The blue skin is integral to the story. The “She” (Line 1) “had blue skin” (Line 1). Blue is a symbol that links to a musical genre originating from African American artists in the Deep South. In the late 1800s, a new type of music developed: “It was usually one singer accompanied by a guitar and characterized by ‘bent’ or ‘blue’ notes, not on the standard scale,” explains Stephanie Hall in “The Painful Birth of Blues and Jazz“ (2017). Hall adds, “The songs expressed a longing, loss, or desire and came to be called ‘the blues.’” In 1810, the German author Johan Wolfgang von Goethe published Theory of Colours, wherein he writes, “[The color blue] may be said to disturb rather enliven.”

Blue’s disquieting, melancholy traits support an interpretation of Silverstein’s poem in which the “she” is sad. In this case, the girl’s blue skin symbolizes that she feels blue or had the blues. (This “she” may also be a person with a different gender expression who uses feminine pronouns, though Silverstein is not known for a nuanced treatment of gender.)

Line 2 introduces another character. Now, a “he” joins the story. The crisp, direct tone carries over from Line 1: “And so did he” (Line 2), says the speaker, who functions like an all-knowing narrator. Like the girl, the boy has blue skin. Sticking with the interpretation that blue symbolizes sadness and upset, the boy’s blue skin symbolizes his “blue” feelings. The girl and the boy are two characters with something in common—blue skin (or, perhaps, sadness).

The third line maintains the forthright, economical tone. The speaker uses few words yet expands upon the boy’s characterization: “He kept it hid” (Line 3). By “it,” the speaker means his blue skin. The non-specificity of “it” speaks to the poem’s elusive mood. The poem sounds clear and to the point, but at the same time, a fair number of details are missing. Neither girl nor boy has a name. Nobody (besides perhaps Silverstein) knows who these characters are, where they are, and why they have blue skin. The haziness might make the poem feel like a riddle or a puzzle.

In Line 4, the speaker strengthens the connection between the boy and girl. Not only do they both have blue skin, but they each keep their blue skin concealed. Line 4 replicates the structure of Line 2, except “he” becomes “she.” The concealed skin color amplifies the puzzling nature of the poem. If blue skin symbolizes low spirits, perhaps there’s a reason why the boy and girl feel compelled to hide their sorrow from the world.

In The Happiness Industry (2016), William Davies charts Western culture’s preoccupation with happiness. He asks, “Is it possible to be against happiness?” Silverstein believed it was possible. He didn’t think happiness needed to dominate every aspect of a person’s life. In another poem from Every Thing On It, “Happy Endings,” the speaker declares, “There are no happy endings.” The girl and boy reflect Silverstein’s belief that life is not uniformly happy. Nevertheless, Silverstein is an outlier, and Western culture often discourages open displays of sadness or emotional vulnerability. Under this interpretation of blueness’ symbolism, the boy and girl hide their pensive, gloomy feelings to fit in with the majority and the culture of happiness.

The conformity has considerable consequences. In Line 5, the two characters appear together in the same line for the first time. The plural pronoun “they” refers to the boy and the girl: “They searched for blue” (Line 5), says the speaker. The verb “searched” ties back to Hall’s description of the blues as an expression of loss, longing, or desire. The search symbolizes the boy and girl’s longing and desire to meet someone else with blue skin. Additionally, the search represents a loss. Since the boy and the girl have hidden their blue skin, they’ve lost their authentic identity.

Line 6 presents a literary device known as hyperbole, underscoring the consequences of the skin’s concealment. The girl and boy don’t try to find blue for some of their life, half of their life, or almost all of their life; they look for blue their entire life, or, as the speaker says, “[t]heir whole life through” (Line 6). The tone is absolute and dramatic—it’s hyperbolic.

In the following line, Silverstein employs another literary device, this time using imagery. The speaker creates an image of the girl and boy crossing paths: “Then passed right by--” (Line 7). Circling back to the idea of “Masks” as a narrative poem, this is a big event in the story. What the boy and girl have been looking for, they found. While each of them has blue skin, however, neither character publicizes this, so they moved right along.

The final line emphasizes Silverstein’s belief that happy endings are rare. They “never knew” (Line 8) that they passed one another. Sticking to the poem’s forlorn tone, Silverstein concludes on a desolate note.

An alternate interpretation amplifies the poem’s ambiguity: Perhaps blue doesn’t symbolize sadness but is a nondescript yet singular trait. Blue can represent less doleful feelings. In Emily Brontë’s poem “The Bluebell“ (1846), the speaker says the bluebell is “the sweetest flower.” Maybe the boy and girl are uniquely sweet, or perhaps they possess another trait that sets them apart from society. To fit in, they hide this trait from the world and, thus, can’t ever meet and form a deep bond. As Silverstein’s accompanying illustration implies, the boy and girl remain separate and alone.