ipl-logo

Analysis Of Yet Do I Marvel By Countee Cullen

1316 Words6 Pages

One of the most interesting aspects of life is its relationship to God. It is said about God that He is all loving, all knowing, all powerful, and more. One of the amazing realizations about God is that He created not just humans, but also everything else that exist. Anyone who sits down and thinks deeply about this knowledge of God could come to think that since God possesses such great attributes, then anything He creates will be forever perfect in every way. Though within a day one could find much evidence that the world is filled with imperfections. Over many centuries, a great deal has been written about humanities struggle against natural suffering and moral suffering. In his poem “Yet Do I Marvel”, Countee Cullen writes about his own experience in this imperfect world. The last line of his poem says, “Yet do I marvel at this curious thing: To make a poet black, and bid him sing!” Cullen lived in the city of Harlem, New York during the Harlem Renaissance era where brilliant black poets, musicians, and artists were booming. Even through these wonderful …show more content…

Referring to God’s nature Cullen writes, “God is good, well-meaning, kind…” but in line two he begins to question why God allows certain events to take place. Throughout the two quatrains, Cullen gives four examples of the two types of suffering in the world. In the first quatrain, he asks about natural suffering. A mole is born with eyesight so bad that one could call it blind. A human born in the image of God, as said in the book genesis of the Bible, has to eventually die. “Why would God allow one of His creatures to begin life in this bad condition?” one might ask, or “Why would an eternal God make us humans mortal?” So what we see in lines 3 and 4 is a question about life and another question about death. These two things will happen whether we want them to or

Show More
Related

'Rhetorical Analysis Of That Word Black' By Langston Hughes

125 Words | 1 Pages

In his writing piece, “That Word Black” (1958), Langston Hughes accentuates the issue over the negative connotation of the term ‘black’, and how its usage associates black individuals with immoral concepts, implying that they are terrible people. By providing imagery, a series of examples of black’s adverse use, and juxtaposition between that of the white’s, the writer heightens pathos. Langston Hughes’ purposes is to reveal the abysmal correlation of the word ‘black’ in order to demonstrate the underlying racism and disparity between black and white people. Because the author uses AAVE to show the ethos and sincerness that he is a black person, and discusses an educational, racial topic, he appeals to the white people who hold a cultural stereotypes

Read More

Ta-Nehisi Coates Between The World And Me

637 Words | 3 Pages

Coates conveys that the black body is equivalent to every other body by using a poem in order to embrace the black community, despite of society’s views. Coates reflects on society’s views of the black community and how they are mistreated. As Coates differentiates

Read More

Let Us Now Praise Famous Men Analysis

252 Words | 2 Pages

This anxiety is often at its peak whenever Agee’s and Evan’s journey forces them to cross paths with Blacks. While some may critique the work for its brief, and often uncomfortable, scenes of the Blacks that Agee has encountered, I argue that he purposefully does not attempt to study a Black

Read More

Rhetorical Analysis Of How It Feels To Be Colored Me

835 Words | 4 Pages

Max Berger Ms. Weiser AP Language 27 January 2023 There is no doubt that the early 1900s were an extremely difficult time for minorities in America, particularly those who were black. They faced segregation, racism, and plain inequity in everyday life Yet, some black people were able to handle this injustice better than others. In her 1928 essay “How it Feels to be Colored Me,” American author Zora Neale Hurston details the mindset that helped her combat this feeling of sorrow, most likely to help struggling black people who might have been struggling to find their place. Throughout her essay, Hurston provides diction, contrast, and figurative language among other devices to convey that although racial inequality does exist, it is important

Read More

Poem Analysis: Nikky Finney's Poetry

2111 Words | 9 Pages

Although a poet rooted in the folk tradition of the African American South, Finney’s work relies upon the spiritual and aesthetic influence of West African tradition, the womanist wisdom of her maternal grandmother, Beulah Lenorah Davenport, and her family’s political commitment to equality and social justice (Beaulieu 333). She mingles the personal with the public in order to share the experience with her readers and therefore truly express their feelings. “I think that my putting myself in my poetry is me saying to my readers and my listeners “I’m willing to stand here and be as vulnerable as perhaps I am making others and situations vulnerable in my work. I have to be willing to do that” (Finney, “Interview with: Nikky Finney.”).

Read More

Phyllis Wheatley: A Brief Biography

882 Words | 4 Pages

In 1773, there were slaves all over colonial America working in plantations, and cleaning their masters houses. It wasn’t common for a slave to be writing poetry with their owners consent. Phyllis Wheatley’s success as the first African American published poet was what inspired generations to tell her story. It was her intellectual mind and point of view that made her different from others, both black and white. Phyllis’s story broke the barrier for all African American writers, and proved that no matter the gender or race, all human beings are capable of having an intelligent state of mind.

Read More

Analysis Of Frances E. W. Harper's Poem Learning To Read

169 Words | 1 Pages

Frances E. W. Harper’s poem “Learning to Read” deals with endurance and sufferance during the time of Reconstruction looking back before the Civil War. The poem shows the power struggle between the masters and the slaves, and in mirrored context the struggle between the Rebs, Southerners, and the Yankees, Northerners, with the education of the slaves. The slaves, rebelling against their masters, trying to learn how to read and write, and the Rebs pushing against the expansion of knowledge. The slaves try and do everything that they can to get taught and teach themselves by using any means necessary. This shows the lengths that humans will endure to accomplish things that people will oppress them for.

Read More

Analysis Of Alvin Ailey's Cry

2321 Words | 10 Pages

In 1971, Alvin Ailey choreographed Cry, a three part work solo dance set to gospel music that describes an emotional journey filled with struggle, hardships, defeat, survival and joy. It was intended as a birthday present to Alvin’s mother and a dedication to all black women everywhere. The first part of the dance is the struggle of trying to maintain pride irrespective of the opposition faced from outside. The second part reveals the sorrow within after the woman’s pride has been shattered into pieces and finally the third part is a spirited celebration of finding strength and joy in God. Even though cry was dedicated to only black women, i argue the notion that all women both black and white of the nineteenth century could relate

Read More

Zora Neale Hrston's Struggles In The Harlem Mentor

1180 Words | 5 Pages

Empowerment Through Hardships In the heart of the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston once said, "I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all. I do not belong to the sobbing school of Negrohood who hold that nature somehow has given them a lowdown dirty deal and whose feelings are all hurt about it.

Read More

My Great Grandfather's Slaves Poem Analysis

756 Words | 4 Pages

Wendell Berry’s poem, "My Great-Grandfather’s Slaves”, details his emotional enslavement to and relentless guilt about his great-grandfather’s slaves. He is extremely remorseful because his own family owned and mistreated other people. Berry feels personally connected to and responsible for the slaves. His shame is evident through his usage of literary devices like metaphors, irony, repetition, and juxtaposition. Berry’s powerful poem captures his true shame and emotional turmoil.

Read More

Lucille Clifton Speech

2065 Words | 9 Pages

The fun nature of personification is seen in Clifton’s other work as well, along with the African-American struggle. To connect to this idea, “Sorrows”, by Lucille Clifton, is the speaker’s personal dissection of the feelings of sorrow that she experiences being African-American. With personification and imagery, this poem applies to a larger idea of the human struggle of understanding and overcoming the problems we deal with. The title “Sorrows” is an introduction to the feelings of hopelessness

Read More

Revolutionary Suicide Poem

983 Words | 4 Pages

Many of the subjects of his poetry involve “selflessness and sacrifice for the sake of black liberation” (Lamar 195). We see this idea presented in Newton’s poem through his use of diction. For example, Newton chooses to use simple and plain words in order to get

Read More

Folk Art Dbq

460 Words | 2 Pages

African Americans believed that having the same skills as whites would express racial pride. In “Heritage (Doc A)”, a poet called Countee Cullen used many difficult words like “loin”, “barbaric”, “goading”, and “plighting” in the poem to show that African Americans are smart too. However, instead of imitating the whites, strengthening one’s identity as black would better express racial pride. In “Homesick Blues(Doc D)”, the poet also used many misspelled words in his poem, but it was no shame because that’s the way they talk and live their

Read More

The Stranger In The Village Poem Analysis

1412 Words | 6 Pages

Black skin, black culture, and black people are perceived as some earth-shattering exhibition. Whether the instance be discharged of fascination: “All of the physical characteristics of the Negro…were nothing less than miraculous… in the eyes of the village people,” or maliciousness: “…which had caused me, in America, a very different and almost forgotten pain…” the very

Read More

Short Story Of Frederick Douglass: The African American Literary Tradition

1935 Words | 8 Pages

The African American literary tradition is defined by a constant struggle between races. Literature from this community embodies a dedication to human dignity, a persistent, indomitable spirit, and protestation of inequality in America. These ideas have been carried forward by Frederick Douglass, W.E.B Du Bois, Langston Hughes, and James Baldwin. Beginning with work songs and folk tales, the literary tradition centralized itself around a theme of religion. Despite constant exposure to dehumanizing practices, slaves knew god would bring them salvation in the form of death, freedom, or a better future for their children.

Read More

More about Analysis Of Yet Do I Marvel By Countee Cullen

Related Topics

Open Document