Yet Do I Marvel

The classical allusions in Countee Cullen’s poem “Yet Do I Marvel” contribute effectively to the poem in a number of ways. In lines 5-8 of the poem, the speaker alludes to the classical myths of...

A figure of speech is a type of language that is not literal. In this case, the poem takes on many meanings. It is common to use figurative language like metaphors in a sonnet. This beautiful...

Cullen starts off by describing God in conventional terms as "good, well-meaning, kind," but then progresses to question God. He states that he realizes that, as a human, he is like a blind mole...

This poem is about the seeming cruelty of God. Although the poem opens with the line, "I doubt not God is good, well-meaning, kind," by the end of the poem, after Cullen has listed a number of...

To the extent that the poet is asking for something, he is asking for understanding. He wants to know why God would do various things, like making/allowing Tantalus to be punished or, at the end...

Countee [Porter] Cullen’s poem “Yet Do I Marvel” expresses his intrigue with God. It is easy to see the poet at his desk and in his chair thinking. He wonders to himself and then on paper: “ I...

One of Cullen's strength is his ability to articulate a condition of pain and suffering which seems to transcend race, yet remind the reader of its pervasive reality. The withholding of race until...

Countee Cullen's short poem "Yes Do I Marvel" contains two classical allusions, both to notorious criminals in the mythical world. The first, Tantalus, was doomed to always be "tantalized" (the...

I think that Cullen's work is extremely profound and layered with many meanings. To attempt to quantify it in one judgment is dangerous. Being a complex man himself, it only makes some level of...

In this sonnet, Cullen is expressing some of his own pain against the lack of parity between the different elements of God's creation. He sets out by saying that he does not doubt that God means...

In this poem, the speaker seems to be a Black man who is pondering the mysteries of God's creation and his own creation specifically. He claims not to doubt that "God is good, well-meaning, kind,"...