In "We Wear the Mask," how does the poet use irony to reject the romantic notion of idealism?

The speaker opens the poem with the declaration that we wear masks that hide our true feelings. He goes on to emphasize the severity of the pain and suffering that these masks try to cover up; by the end we understand that all of the politeness and subdued emotions are just phony disguises of the painful truths that hide behind them. And those masks certainly aren't doing anyone any favors.