The title of the poem, "Masque," seems to suggest that the speaker is thinking about a masque ball, where everybody wears a mask to disguise their appearance and cover up their true face. This seems to be a central metaphor of the poem, and the second stanza in particular makes us think that the masks that various characters wear are really to prevent their true selves being seen by others. In particular, it appears that everybody, the speaker included, is very careful to don a particular mask in order to prevent the person that this poem is written to expose their true face and take of his mask:

each face, voice, mannerism

meticulously chosen and applied

for fear

that yours would be the one,

the one that slipped,

or didn’t fit,

The "fear" that is in this poem therefore is based on the speaker's feelings towards the person she is addressing and the true nature of his character which is revealed when his "mask" slips or when it doesn't fit. The terrible nature of this mask is demonstrated by the final stanza, which makes us think of the face of this person as everbody cowers away from him once his mask has been taken off. The speaker is therefore afraid of this person revealing their true self to both her and to those around them.

Is the following poem, "Masque," set in the past or present?Masque I’m standing back, now, looking back at last on all those crowded days and nights relentlessly erupting on face and steet   each face, voice, mannerism meticulously chosen and applied for fear that yours would be the one, the one that slipped, or didn’t fit,   the one the rest saw over their shoulders as they shrank away from you.

If we read this poem carefully, we can find the answer to the question that you are looking for in the first few lines. Let us consider the first stanza and the way in which the time in which it is set is clearly talked about:

I’m standing back, now,

looking back

at last

on all those crowded

days and nights

relentlessly erupting

on face and steet

The poem begins therefore with the speaker very much in the present, but standing back from the action of what is going on around them. Even though the poem is in the present, the past is something that is considerably important in understanding this poem, as the speaker says that he and she is standing back from the action so as to examine the past more clearly and to "look back" on the events that have led them to this point. Whilst there is a definite separation between the present of this poem and the past that the speaker remembers, at the same time the past is shown to impact the present as the speaker is left wondering how the past has resulted in his or her present situation.

How does the poet in the following poem, "Masque," feel about what she is describing?Masque I’m standing back, now, looking back at last on all those crowded days and nights relentlessly erupting on face and steet   each face, voice, mannerism meticulously chosen and applied for fear that yours would be the one, the one that slipped, or didn’t fit,   the one the rest saw over their shoulders as they shrank away from you.  

There seems to be a sense of weary relief in the voice of the speaker as she finally is able to escape the action and stand back and reflect upon the past and her relationship with the "you" of the poem that she is addressing. Her past is based on "crowded days and nights" that "relentlessly erupt," which give the idea of the exhaustion of the speaker. At the same time, there is a sense of fear when the speaker begins to talk about the "you" of the poem. People, presumably the speaker, have been incredibly careful about the kind of behaviour and mask that they put on around the person that the speaker is addressing for fear that the speaker's mask would not fit and that they would see his face for what it is. The way in which the final stanza alludes to "the rest" seeing the person that the speaker is addressing and "shrinking" away from him as a result injects a note of fear and terror into the speaker's thoughts, as we are left to think about the kind of face that this person has and what kind of fearsome individual he must be to make others cower from him so.

We can therefore establish the feelings of the speaker of the poem through the kind of words that are used and, in turn, how those words help create a tone of both exhaustion and fear.