Masks

Fiction | Poem | Middle Grade | Published in 2011

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

The poem is one stanza with eight lines. Each line contains four syllables. The last line, Line 8, is the only line with three words instead of five. Line 8 is the only line with a multisyllabic word—”never” (Line 8)—while the rest of the 30 words are monosyllabic. The uniform meter and the terse diction reflect the constrictions on the boy and girl. The four-syllable lines hem in the form, and the choice to hide their blue skin limit the boy and the girl.

The poem has an ababccdc rhyme scheme: Lines 1 and 3 rhyme, Lines 2 and 4 rhyme, and Lines 5, 6, and 8 rhyme. The rhymes bring together the boy and the girl. Like the lines, even though the characters don’t know it, they’re not alone. The rhymes give the lines partners and create a link between the actions. The “blue skin” (Line 1) is “hid” (Line 3) by “he” (Line 2) and “she” (Line 4). There is a cause and effect. In contrast, Line 7 has no rhyme; the lone unrhymed line speaks to the solitariness of the boy, the girl, and their search.

Narrative Voice

As with the form, the narrative voice is tight and controlled. The speaker doesn’t waste words or provide extra details about the boy and the girl. Nor does the speaker bother to give the characters names or a specific setting—yet the speaker knows everything about the boy and girl. These are the traits of an omniscient narrator. The speaker knows the boy and girl have blue skin, that they concealed the blue skin, and that they spent their entire lives looking for someone else with blue skin. The speaker could have provided more specifics, but additional information obstructs the puzzling narrative voice that is deliberately mysterious. It doesn’t want to go into depth about the boy and girl and the meaning of their blue skin. It wants the reader to figure it out.

One might equate the speaker with the poet, as Silverstein cultivated an elusive persona. He moved around a lot and, although he was a widely acclaimed author, he often tried to avoid the spotlight. Silverstein had a personal connection to his poems. He’d visit playgrounds and read his in-progress poems to the children to see what they thought. He also painstakingly edited his poems and drawings. Considering Silverstein’s visceral link to his work, it works to say Silverstein’s voice is the narrative voice.

Diction

The word choice supports the poem’s pointed yet puzzling mood and tone. “Masks” is simultaneously direct and elusive. The terse, upfront diction turns the poem into a series of declarative sentences. Each sentence, or line, tells something about the boy and girl. Line 1 says a girl had blue skin. Line 2 announces a boy has blue skin. Lines 3 and 4 reveal that they both kept their blue skin hidden. Lines 5-8 explain that they tried to find another person with blue skin but failed.

The expressive restraint leaves much room for interpretation. The clipped diction makes it possible to speculate on the meaning of blueness, skin, and the identities of the boy and girl. The illustration adds some clarification since it appears to show a boy and girl, yet a definitive conclusion about their relationship remains out of reach. While the words “she” and “he” suggest a heteronormative relationship, Silverstein’s enigmatic diction and his omission of so many details make it possible that this boy and girl aren’t looking for a conventional relationship. As with the boy and girl, the reader might never know for sure what’s happening in “Masks.”