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WAEC SSCE - Literature In English - 2021 (Objective)

Question 1 Report

Read the poem below and answer questions 26 to 30.

We wear the mask that grins and lies,

It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,

This debt we pay to human guile;

With torn and bleeding hearts we smile

And mouths with myriad subtleties,

 

Why should the world be over-wise,

In counting all our tears and sighs?

Nay, let them only see us, while

We wear the mask.

 

We smile but O great god, our cries

To thee from tortured souls arise

We sing, but oh the clay is vile

Beneath our feet and long the mile,

But let the world dream otherwise,

We wear the mask!


The poem is about 

Answer Details
The poem is about appearances. Specifically, it describes the "mask" that people wear to hide their true emotions and experiences. The speaker suggests that society doesn't want to see the pain and suffering that people are going through, so they put on a mask to hide it. The poem acknowledges the pain that people feel while trying to maintain a certain appearance, but ultimately argues that the world prefers the illusion of happiness to the reality of suffering.