Research Analysis Paper
In the poem “Yet Do I Marvel” Countee Cullen uses Greek mythology, God’s lack of kindness, and the hardships of being a black poet to convey man’s struggle in believing in the kindness of God. Cullen questions Gods compassion to humans because of various situations man is left to deal with over time. Cullen portraits this through allusion, imagery, and tone.
In “Yet Do I Marvel” Countee Cullen uses Greek mythology to provide examples for how God has left man to fight for many things in life leading to the conflict in whether or not to believe in him. The first Greek myth Cullen alludes to for example is Tantalus. Tantalus was invited to have dinner with the Gods of Olympus, at this dinner he tricks them into eating his son Pelops. Because of this Tantalus was condemned to be a slave of hunger and thirst. He is trapped in a body of water that recedes when he attempts to drink and the apples that surround him move when he reaches for them. This example relates to Cullen’s emotions towards the kindness of God, even though Tantalus might have deserved the punishment he received, you are still left to wonder why God’s good not appeared in this situation. Cullen also mentions the myth of Sisyphus. Sisyphus was the king of Ephyra; he began to act too much like man and was punished. Sisyphus was forced to roll a boulder up a hill constantly, each time Sisyphus failed this task only to watch it roll back down. This demonstrates men striving for greatness only to fail multiple times. Critic Esther Sanchez-Pardo thinks that the predicaments of Tantalus and Sisyphus articulate the plight of black artist in America (Critic 1). God seems to show no sadness for man at all therefore contrasting with Gods lack of kindness. By alluding to the two Greek figures Cullen signifies the constant attempt of man more specifically black me reaching a goal or to become successful only to fail. This also relates to man’s attempts to understand the way God works and try to believe in him, but the constant struggles ma faces distract man from this goal. Keith D. Leonard suggest that the very unjust burden that threatens to silence him and his attempt to believe as it punished the Greek figures is also the most productive inspiration for his empowering ethnic voice (Critic 2).
In the first few lines of “Yet Do I Marvel” Cullen says “And did he stoop to quibble could tell why the little buried mole continues to blind” (lines 2-3). Cullen’s example of the mole gives you a visual for how hard it can be to have faith in God when he doesn’t even give the simplest of creatures such as the mole the ability to have eye sight. In the beginning of the poem Cullen starts off with the example of how God’s kindness is questioned. Cullen ask the question of how God could be this kind creature but create another creature such as the mole only to make him blind. The same reason why this mole was created blind is the same inspiration Cullen has for knowing why God made man, and life the way he did. Critic Esther Sanchez-Pardo states that Cullen’s allusion the mole and the man who must die figures the pathos of all those men and women estranged from God and thrust into a hostile universe (Critic 1). This is one reason “why flesh that mirrors him must someday die” (line 4). If God created man in the image of him but God is eternal without an end or beginning but man has a beginning with being born and an end with dying. Cullen the injustice of God within these few lines. This is one of the many themes found in Cullen’s “Yet Do I Marvel”, Deborah Turner says that “Some common themes found in Cullen’s works concern universal human experiences such as love, death, nature, and beauty”(Critic 3). This section of the poem specifically highlights death and why humans must die only for God to live forever. Cullen’s lines about the mole being blinded and his later allusion to the Greek Myths Sisyphus and Tantalus “Suggest that the very unjust burden that threatens to scalene him as it blinded the mole or punished the Greek figures is also the most productive inspiration for his empowering ethnic voice”(Critic 1). Cullen’s comparison to the concept of man being made in the image of God, and God being internal and man not also shed light on the title of the poem. Keith D. Leonard suggest that “speaker was really marveling at himself, in other words, and this individual self-affirmation is the signal gesture of the ethnic poetics if the Harlem Renaissance” (Critic 2).
A huge problem that Countee Cullen had to struggle with during his time was not only being a black writer but also being black. During the Harlem Renaissance African Americans begin to come in touch with their writing, singing, and artistic skills, Cullen states in the last two lines of his poem that “Yet Do I Marvel” at this curious thing: To make a poet black, and bid him sing!”(lines 13-14). These last line are the main lines that stands out, Cullen transitioned from talking about the lack of God shows to human and creatures to the strive of being African American and a poet. These lines have a specific meaning for the poet because they connect to a culture that is inflected by racism. This also goes back to trying to understand why God would place not only man in general in a hostile world but a black man who is forced to deal with years of discrimination but also have the gift to sing and write poetry. This suggest that the “I” that’s repeated throughout the poem is Cullen who is unsure in his faith in God because of these very reasons. Cullen feels as if God gave him these gifts for them to only go unnoticed, if God was so kind why would he make him black, give him the gift of poetry, and thrust him into this hostile world? These last two lines represent the transition from creatures such as the moles struggles to Greek myths struggles then to Cullen’s struggles. This order is portrayed to be a timeline in a way, as if the mole was the first to struggle with sight, then the Greek myths Sisyphus and Tantalus were forced to be punished and struggle through starvation, thirst, and success for the rest of their lives, then Cullen who is forced to deal with the distress that comes with being an African American. Esther Sanchez-Pardo states that “Cullen inscribes race in the traditional form of the sonnet, modifying it to some extent in an inter textual play among mythology and religious discourse and that it acquires a specific meaning for the black writer and a specific reading culturally inflected by race”(critic 2). Esther Sanchez-Pardo also believes that “The poem suggest that the black poet is forced to struggle endlessly toward a goal he or she will never be allowed to reach”(critic 2). As Sisyphus was forced to roll a boulder to the top of a hill and failed, Cullen continues to try to overcome discrimination but to only struggle endlessly toward a goal that will never be reached. This provides the poem with a questioning tone because Cullen is between a rock and a hard place trying to decide whether or not to have faith and believe in a God who puts man in such predicaments.
In “Yet Do I Marvel” Countee Cullen questions God’s through Greek Mythology, examples of God not being there for man and the hardships of being a black poet. Cullen does this by using allusion, imagery, and tone. Esther Sanchez-Pardo states that “With its quality of deadening repetition, it acquires a specific meaning for the back writer and a specific reading culturally inflected by race” (critic 1). This relates to how hard it is to be an African American in the world we live I today. Although the world has changed dramatically from when Cullen wrote this poem he touched on a subject that not only African Americans have to deal with but many other races do also. “Yet Do I Marvel” also touches the subject of religion which plays a huge role in society today. Though there are thousands of different religions to believe in if you believe in God this poem can relate to not having faith in God and his decisions.
writing to share my voice 