Yet Do I Marvel By Countée Cullen

I doubt not God is good, well-meaning, kind
And did He stoop to quibble could tell why
The little buried mole continues blind,
Why flesh that mirrors Him must some day die,
Make plain the reason tortured Tantalus
Is baited by the fickle fruit, declare
If merely brute caprice dooms Sisyphus
To struggle up a never-ending stair.
Inscrutable His ways are, and immune
To catechism by a mind too strewn
With petty cares to slightly understand
What awful brain compels His awful hand.
Yet do I marvel at this curious thing:
To make a poet black, and bid him sing!

In the poem "Yet Do I Marvel," Cullen contrasts allusions, and extended metaphors to create a confused tone, and illustrates that the speaker is bitter towards God. There are two allusions that are pervasive throughout the poem. "Tantalus is baited by the fickle fruit," and "Sisyhphus/To struggle up a never ending stair." Both allusions are commenting on God being cruel and unfair. 

Cullen makes his bitterness clear when he says "What awful brain compels His awful hand." The author is comparing to himself to "Sisyphus" and "Tantalus" because he is a black poet, but he is silenced because of his skin color. 

These allusions would be the  extended metaphor. Cullen comparing himself to both of these kings having to look at something so close, but yet out of reach. There is definitely anger at racism in this poem. Cullen is puzzled with God giving him something to say, but then not allowing him to say it.The last line of the poem Cullen really shows his true emotions. "To make a poet black, and bid him sing." 

I chose to write about this poem because I really liked it. How the soft subtle words he used could hint at such internalized anger. It was really beautiful. How Cullen slipped in metaphors such as "The little buried mole," ever so lightly. The mole represents the internalized hatred and racism of the black community, that Cullen was dealing with at the time.