Yet Do I Marvel Summary & Analysis
by Countee Cullen

Question about this poem?
Have a question about this poem?
Have a specific question about this poem?
Have a specific question about this poem?
Have a specific question about this poem?
A LitCharts expert can help.
A LitCharts expert can help.
A LitCharts expert can help.
A LitCharts expert can help.
A LitCharts expert can help.
Ask us
Ask us
Ask a question
Ask a question
Ask a question

"Yet Do I Marvel" is a sonnet by the American poet Countee Cullen, published in his 1925 collection Color. This poem grapples with an ancient question: why would a good and loving God allow so much suffering in the world? In the poem's final couplet, the speaker relates this idea to his own circumstances, asking why God would make a Black man a poet in a time of extreme racial prejudice. The fact that Cullen remains one of the best-known poets of the Harlem Renaissance adds both to the poem's poignancy and its power: Cullen was up against terrible odds, but "s[a]ng" anyway.

Get
Get
LitCharts
Get the entire guide to “Yet Do I Marvel” as a printable PDF.
Download