What does "the city's broken roar" mean in the poem "Faces" by Sara Teasdale?

The phrase "the city's broken roar" in the poem "Faces" by Sara Teasdale means that although the exterior face of a city often exudes a countenance of strength and robust activity, it is not really the true face of the city because of the challenges of the people face who inhabit said city.

Consider what Sara Teasdale is saying in this poem when she conveys the message that people put on facades or wear disguises – facially – as they interact on the streets of a city and throughout the society they inhabit. This is evident in these lines in stanza two of this four stanza poem:

“How ashamed I am, and sad

To have pierced your poor disguise?”

Therefore, Sara Teasdale is saying here that there is a fragility to the city because of the everyday challenges that its citizens face. The city may try to put forth a roar, as if a powerful lion, however, the city is only as strong as its people. People wearied and embattled by life’s trials and disappointments cause a weakening of that proud roar, which becomes “the city’s broken roar.”

Teasdale states that the people of the city have secrets that are crying out from the hiding places that individuals have. These hiding places may be the sanctuaries of respite that people go to, so as to rest and recover from their everyday battles. In as much, this shows that the city may put on a brave face, but is the city actually brave when its citizens often lack the wherewithal to fight their daily battles, or seek to find solace or hide from them?

Teasdale writes that she:

 “…cannot bear

The sorrow of the passing faces.”

She recognizes “the city’s broken roar” in the faces of people. She recognizes the exterior show that people put on, while often hiding their true emotions so as not to appear weak to others. The poet writes that the street is restless. This concerns the people on the street, in a harried, modern, and fast-paced society not always at peace with itself.

Teasdale also recognizes that what she sees in others, they probably see in her as well. She is not immune to the pressures of life and faces exactly what others face in living life. She is part of that “broken roar” as well, trying to be strong, while facing significant challenges.