PLEASE HEAR WHAT I'M NOT SAYING

POEM

"PLEASE HEAR
WHAT I'M NOT

SAYING"

BY: CHARLES C. FINN

AUTHORS


FATIN SAFIYYAH
BINTI SAMUDIN
EDRIANIE MARCELLA
BINTI SANUSI

MAIZATUL SYAFIRA NATASHA ALYA BINTI
BINTI KHAIRUL NIZAM ZAMBRI

PUTERI NUR
QAISARA BINTI

AZMAN

TABLE OF 2
CONTENT 9
10
THE POEM 11
POET'S INFO 13
SYNOPSIS 16
TARGET READER 24
TITLE & THEME 30
INTERPRETATION 32
ANALYSIS
CONCLUSION
REFERENCES

THE POEM

2

Don't be fooled by me.
Don't be fooled by the face I wear
for I wear a mask, a thousand masks,
masks that I'm afraid to take off,
and none of them is me.

Pretending is an art that's second nature with me,
but don't be fooled,
for God's sake don't be fooled.
I give you the impression that I'm secure,
that all is sunny and unruffled with me, within as well as without,
that confidence is my name and coolness my game,
that the water's calm and I'm in command
and that I need no one,
but don't believe me.
My surface may seem smooth but my surface is my mask,
ever-varying and ever-concealing.
Beneath lies no complacence.
Beneath lies confusion, and fear, and aloneness.
But I hide this. I don't want anybody to know it.
I panic at the thought of my weakness exposed.
That's why I frantically create a mask to hide behind,
a nonchalant sophisticated facade,
to help me pretend,
to shield me from the glance that knows.

3

But such a glance is precisely my salvation, my
only hope,
and I know it.
That is, if it's followed by acceptance,
if it's followed by love.
It's the only thing that can liberate me from
myself,
from my own self-built prison walls,
from the barriers I so painstakingly erect.
It's the only thing that will assure me
of what I can't assure myself,
that I'm really worth something.
But I don't tell you this. I don't dare to, I'm afraid
to.
I'm afraid your glance will not be followed by
acceptance,
will not be followed by love.
I'm afraid you'll think less of me,
that you'll laugh, and your laugh would kill me.
I'm afraid that deep-down I'm nothing
and that you will see this and reject me.

4

So I play my game, my desperate pretending
game,
with a facade of assurance without
and a trembling child within.
So begins the glittering but empty parade of
masks,
and my life becomes a front.
I idly chatter to you in the suave tones of surface
talk.
I tell you everything that's really nothing,
and nothing of what's everything,
of what's crying within me.
So when I'm going through my routine
do not be fooled by what I'm saying.
Please listen carefully and try to hear what I'm
not saying,
what I'd like to be able to say,
what for survival I need to say,
but what I can't say.

5

I don't like hiding.
I don't like playing superficial phony
games.
I want to stop playing them.
I want to be genuine and spontaneous and
me
but you've got to help me.
You've got to hold out your hand
even when that's the last thing I seem to
want.
Only you can wipe away from my eyes
the blank stare of the breathing dead.
Only you can call me into aliveness.
Each time you're kind, and gentle, and
encouraging,
each time you try to understand because
you really care,
my heart begins to grow wings--
very small wings,
very feeble wings,
but wings!

6

With your power to touch me into feeling
you can breathe life into me.
I want you to know that.
I want you to know how important you are to
me,
how you can be a creator--an honest-to-God
creator--
of the person that is me
if you choose to.
You alone can break down the wall behind
which I tremble,
you alone can remove my mask,
you alone can release me from my shadow-
world of panic,
from my lonely prison,
if you choose to.
Please choose to.

7

Do not pass me by.
It will not be easy for you.
A long conviction of worthlessness builds strong
walls.
The nearer you approach to me the blinder I may
strike back.
It's irrational, but despite what the books say
about man
often I am irrational.
I fight against the very thing I cry out for.
But I am told that love is stronger than strong
walls
and in this lies my hope.
Please try to beat down those walls
with firm hands but with gentle hands
for a child is very sensitive.

Who am I, you may wonder?
I am someone you know very well.
For I am every man you meet
and I am every woman you meet.

8

POET'S INFO

Charles C.Finn “Charlie” was born in
America on September 21, 1941.

The second of three children. Charlie
Finn is a writer who also works as a
licensed professional counsellor with
adolescents and adults on issues relating
to life transitions, substance abuse, and
the role of spirituality when “up against
it.” He is most notable for writing
“Please Hear What I Am Not Saying” in

September 1966.

Grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, Finn spent
ten years in the Society of Jesus after
graduating from St. Xavier High School
before leaving the Jesuits and earning
degrees in Literature and Psychology
from Chicago's Loyola University. Finn

has been married to his wife and decided
to relocate to live on 13 acres just north

of Roanoke, Virginia.

9

SYNOPSIS

Please Hear What I Am Not Saying is a
poem about the struggle that a lot of
people face which is afraid to open up
and reach out to people.The highlights
of the poem’s is the significance of

reaching out to those in need and
offering compassion and motivation.
Many people who have experienced
bullying or mental health problems,
like the narrator, create a persona to
protect themselves from the pain they

have endured in the past and are
waiting for someone to see through

their façade and help them heal.

10

TARGET READER

The poems are suitable for young adults. The poets
have mentioned mental health in every stanza which
most probably refer to traumas that a person can have
throughout their life from child until teenager to
becoming a young adult.

They sometimes wish they would disappear, but deep
inside they just want to be found by someone who
really listens even when they are silent and hope
people understand what their silence meant.

11

PART 1 :

TITLE & THEME

INTREPRETATION

12

TITLE
&

THEME

13

TITLE

"PLEASE HEAR WHAT I'M
NOT SAYING"

LITERAL

From the title “Please Hear What I’m Not Saying”, it
tells the reader that the persona is asking for help but
the reason why he is asking for help is vague.

METAPHORICAL

Metaphorically the title is trying to portray how the
persona is desperately asking for the people around him
to notice that he needs help with what he is silently
enduring. Due to the fact that he is scared of how others
would perceive his true self, he hides behind masks that
he created himself though non of it truly represents the
person that he is.

14

THEME

SELF AWARENESS

The poet is telling the truth as everyone in this world
faces the same things or issues, such as being afraid of
showing their true identity, their suffering episodes in
their life, and the things they fear the most, which
occurs inside their brain. So instead of judging people
through their masks, the people should be concerned
and mindful of speaking. Overall, the poet wanted to
encourage all of us to support and give encouragement
to let all of us live happily and stress-free.

SELF ACCEPTANCE

In the poem, the poet keeps on repeating how he
desperately wants the people around him to notice
that the versions of him that he shows to them are all
fake. The poet also made it seem how his insecurities
and fears in his head are the reasons why he is afraid
to portray his true self to the world. Despite refusing
to open up his real self to the world, he still hoped that
people could help him, pull him out of his own misery
which he had created in his head.

15

INTERPRETATION

16

Stanza 1:
This stanza opens with the poet declaring, "Don't be fooled by
me." This statement led directly to the breakdown of the
poem. It was immediately revealed that the persona was
hiding behind a mask, and the reader was cautioned not to
trust what he was saying or the image he was projecting
since it wasn't the real him.

Stanza 2:
The poet went into greater detail in the second stanza,
emphasising why people should not be fooled by what they see
in him, that all they perceive is a pretence, a "mask." That his
mask gave him the impression of confidence, cool, and that he
needed no one. His masks, however, were simply masking his
confusion, fear, and loneliness. It's a facade he wears to keep
people at bay and to help him to pretend due to him being
scared at the thought of his vulnerability being exposed. With
his “ever-varying” and “ever-concealing” mask, he managed to
shield himself from people who might be able to figure him
out, to see his weaknesses.

17

Stanza 3:
In this stanza, however, despite hiding himself from people,
he longs to be seen and heard, but only if they accept him for
who he truly is. The persona realises that this is the only
thing that can save him from the lonely world he has created
and resided in. He believes that when people see the real him,
his weaknesses, and still embrace him no matter what, it
reassures him that despite his self-deprecating thoughts, he
is actually worth something. But in spite of wanting to be
seen and heard, he keeps his genuine desires hidden. The
poet explains that the persona fears that if he reveals his true
self, his weakness, people would reject him.

Stanza 4:
This stanza continues with how due to the persona's fear of
being rejected for being himself, he continues his game of
pretence. How he would go about his day around other
people and converse with them as though the masks he
donned is the real him and that he is not crying for help. But
despite his continuation of pretence, the persona once again
warned the readers to not be fooled by his mask and instead,
try to listen to what he’s not saying and understands that
there are many things needed to be said by him but could
not.

18

Stanza 5:
In this stanza, the persona began trying to reach out. This
whole stanza is a cry for help from the poet. The truth was
told that he does not like to hide and continue his game of
pretence. Instead, the persona wants to be himself; genuine
and spontaneous. But people needed to help guide him for
that. He needed someone to reach out to him and offer a
helping hand, even if that seemed like the last thing he
needed. This stanza continues to explain how only those who
are willing to help him and guide him could bring him out of
his shell. How if they were understanding towards him, he
could finally be free.

Stanza 6:
Following the previous stanza, the sixth stanza continues to
explain or to convince the reader that they are the ones that
could help him, they are the ones that could bring down his
walls, they are the ones that could save him. Through this, it
is as though the persona is telling the readers that they have
the absolute power to release him from his prison walls.

19

Stanza 7:
In this stanza, the persona warns the readers that he is a
difficult person to deal with and that he may respond
unreasonably toward those who approach him. That, despite
his cries for help, he might refuse it. However, the poet
remains hopeful in his search for individuals who love him
enough to accept him for who he is, and he begged the
readers to be kind with him if they were to help him. He also
addressed himself as a child, which could imply his inner
child.

Stanza 8:
In the last stanza, the poet revealed that he is “every man you
meet” and “every woman you meet”. This could indicate the
masks that he had been wearing all along, Or, it could also
indicate that everyone we meet is also hiding behind a mask.
Leaving us readers to wonder the depth of its meaning.

20

FORMS AND
STRUCTURE

21

TECHNICAL ASPECTS
AND SO
UNDS

This is a free verse poem. A fee verse poem has no set rhythm or
amount of lines in each stanza. There are eight stanzas in this
poem and each of them with a different number of lines, and has
a total of 135 lines.

REFRAIN

A phrase, line, or group of lines that appears at regular intervals
throughout a poem.

Examples found in poem;
“Don’t be fooled by me. Don’t be fooled by the face I wear”
(Stanza 1)

“Beneath lies no complacency. Beneath lies confusion, and fear,
and aloneness.” (Stanza 2)

“That is if it’s followed by acceptance, if it’s followed by love.”
“I’m afraid that your love will not be followed by acceptance,
will not be followed by love.” (Stanza 3)

REPETITION

The repeated use of the same word or phrase

Examples found in poem;
“For I wear a mask, a thousand masks. Masks that I’m afraid to
take off.” (Stanza 1)

“If you choose to. Please choose to.”
“How you can be a creator - an honest to god creator.” (Stanza 5)

22

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

HYPERBOLE

A figure of speech in which the writer deliberately
exaggerates for emphasis or humorous effect.

Examples found in poem;
“For I wear a mask, a thousand masks. Masks that I’m
afraid to take off.” (Stanza 1)
The persona exaggerates the many faces he has by
using the word “masks”.

“My heart begins to grow wings!” (Stanza 5)
The use of the word “wings” is an exaggeration of how
the persona will be free.

SYMBOLISM

A literary device in which symbols are used to express
things.

Examples found in poem;
The word “mask” used throughout the poem
symbolises the many faces the persona puts on.

“From my lonely prison.” (Stanza 6)
The word “prison’ is used to symbolise the lonely
world the persona lives in.

23

PART 2 : FURTHER DISCUSSIONS

COMPARATIVE
ANALYSIS

Please Hear What I'm Not Saying
VS

We Wear The Mask

24

We Wear The Mask

By: Paul Laurence Dunbar

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 mouth 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 Christ, 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!



25

SIMILARITIES

Point Of View

Both of the poems we chose and found had been written in a first-person
perspective. In “Please Hear What I’m Not Saying”, Charles C. Finn used
the pronouns ‘I’ to express the persona’s feeling to make the readers
understand that the poem is about what the persona is trying to convey
while in “We Wear The Mask”, Paul Laurence Dunbar used the pronouns
‘We’ to express the persona in the poem where the persona is expressing
the feelings they had been through on behalf of the people the persona is
trying to speak up.

Symbolism

Both of the poems used masks as the symbolism of the poem as both poems
explain that people are too scared to take off the masks and do not express
their real feelings. Furthermore, both poems help us to learn that we will
never know other people’s real feelings as they always put on a mask. The
first stanza from “Please Hear What I’m Not Saying” and “We Wear The
Mask” are further proof evidence of the symbolism.

Mood

The mood for both of the poems can be melancholy as we get deeper in
reading the poem we would feel empathy towards the persona as the poems
were written to get the readers to understand what the personas had been
through and how the personas express their feelings through the poem that
made the readers be in a melancholy mood. In “Please Hear What I’m Not
Saying”, the persona expressed their feeling on how they hide behind the
mask as they don’t want people to know their real feelings while in “We
Wear The Mask”, the persona expressed their feelings where the persona
keeps on wearing the mask as they don’t want people to see the hurt that
they had been through. This sets the melancholy mood in both poems.




26

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE
TWO POEMS

THEME

PLEASE HEAR WHAT I'M NOT SAYING

SELF AWARENESS

The poet is telling the truth as everyone in this world faces the same things or issues, such as
being afraid of showing their true identity, their suffering episodes in their life, and the things
they fear the most, which occurs inside their brain. So instead of judging people through their
masks, the people should be concerned and mindful of speaking. Overall, the poet wanted to
encourage all of us to support and give encouragement to let all of us live happily and stress-


free.

WE WEAR THE MAS
K

RACISM


In this poem, even though it is about a mask, the story behind it is much different from the

Please Hear What I am not Saying. The poem talked about the complication that happened at the
end 19th century, in which the Black people were discriminated against in every particular thing
by the White people. So, the Black people need to follow all the protocols instructed, and their
opinions are meaningless. Due to the limitations and being governed by the White people, they
felt threatened and unsafe even though they lived in the same country. Also, they felt hurt, and
their presence was unappreciated. So then, they need to survive on their own by faking the
happiness and smile that lies on their face.

27

STANZA

PLEASE HEAR WHAT I'M NOT SAYING

There are eight stanzas in this poem. It
consists of 135 lines, and it is a free verse poem
in which the words at the back do not align
with one another but provide meaning for

each of the stanzas.


WE WEAR THE MASK

There are only three stanzas in this poem. It

rchoynmsisetspoatftefrifnt,eeanndlintehs
e. rTehiiss poem is in a
a hint given

between the stanzas, and it creates a

meaningful poem.

28

WRITING STYLES

PLEASE HEAR WHAT I'M NOT SAYING

For this poem, the poet's writing style is more lengthy but it is explicit enough to allow
the readers get the whole idea of what is happening behind the mask. After all, the
mask that the people used is to hide their feelings, the actual colour of themselves and
the people around them would not extremely careful about their feelings as they
portray themselves as the happy-go-lucky person and someone who does not have any
problems in their life. This poem tells a story about the mask in depth and lets the
readers heal themselves and convey to other people that it is fine to go through all the


difficulties. However, putting on the mask does not help them be in a good phase

instead of draining themselves.



WE WEAR THE MASK

The writing style in this poem is straightforward, but it uses extended metaphors. The
poet successfully described the mask well in which to engage with the readers easily.
As the mask is the tool to cover their identity, he tells about the truth behind the mask,
the silent cries, and things that make them feel so hurt due to their estrangement
towards the country. In order to help themselves from difficulties, the mask that they


wear tells that they are being forced to do things and they have already suffered

enough in silence. However, it does not make them feel at the lowest instead of
showing the world's reality to the people.

29

PART 3:

CONCLUSION

30

This poem had brought us to new light as this assignment had
us critically analyse the poem we had chosen. Charles C. Finn
had written a remarkable poem as from this poem we managed
to understand what people from the 1960s went through. Back
during the 60s, people are afraid to open up to other people as
their mentality back then was not as accepting as today, the
modern world. People back then are not that open-minded as
they still have some prejudice against some of the issues and
one of them is mental awareness. Mental awareness is not as
important as it is today which is why they put on a facade to
not let other people know what they are truly feeling. Charles
C. Finn is one of the bravest poets to wrote this poem to bring
awareness to the people in the 1960s which is why this poem is
one of his famous works. The poet had brought hope and
encouragement to people in the 1960s to speak up for
themselves and get some help.

31

REFERENCES

We Wear the Mask Poem Summary and

Analysis. (n.d.). LitCharts.

https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/paul-

laurence-dunbar/we-wear-the-mask

Please Hear When I Am Not Saying (2022.).

Charles C. Finn,

https://poetrybycharlescfinn.com/pages/fam

ily

32