Yet Do I Marvel

poem by Cullen

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Article History

Yet Do I Marvel, sonnet by Countee Cullen, published in the collection Color in 1925. Reminiscent of the Romantic sonnets of William Wordsworth and William Blake, the poem is concerned with racial identity and injustice.

The poet ponders the nature of God, stating “I do not doubt God is good, well-meaning, kind.” While he accepts God’s wisdom in most puzzling matters of life and death, he is confounded by the contradiction of his own plight in a racist society:

Yet do I marvel at this curious thing:
To make a poet black, and bid him sing!

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.