19 pages 38 minutes read

Shel Silverstein

Masks

Fiction | Poem | Middle Grade | Published in 2011

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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.

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