Yet Do I Marvel
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 βI do not doubt God is good, well-meaning, kind.β While he accepts Godβs 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.
Citation Information
Article Title:
Yet Do I Marvel
Website Name:
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Publisher:
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Date Published:
04 August 2017
Access Date:
November 13, 2026