Allusions In Countee Cullen's Yet I Do Marvel

In the poem “Yet I Do Marvel,” Countee Cullen utilizes allusion, diction, and structure in order to convey his wonder at the path the Lord has chosen for him, and his complete trust that his ways are good, through the comparison of the truly terrible sufferings God has allowed on this earth and his own unorthodox calling.

First, Cullen presents allusions in order to illustrate the depth of hopelessness and desperation in the human experience and how God could explain the worst of it all if he chose to. Take, for example, how before he explains how human minds are “too strewn with petty cares to slightly understand” the ways of God, he alludes to “Sisyphus” and his “never ending stair” (Cullen 7, 8, 10, 11). This example insinuates that life mirrors the story of this tragic Greek hero, that the man upstairs has for some reason doomed us to forever struggle at endeavors we can never reach, and in this way highlights the extreme trust that Cullen possesses in order to claim God must have done this for a good reason.

Look at how, before he begins to list some of the confounding trials in this world, he uses the words “stoop” and “quibble” to describe the hypothetical action of God defending himself to his creation (Cullen 2). The connotation of these words implies the superiority of God and the absurdity of the idea that he would deign to explain his ways to us, which consequently conveys the confidence and respect Cullens must have in God to hold him in such high