In the poem, "Yet Do I Marvel," the poet, Countee Cullen wonders if God is "good, well-meaning, kind," and why there is so much injustice and selfishness in the world. This poem is effective because of Cullen's use of Imagery, sound devices, and figures of speech.
The first image is when Cullen talks about Sisyphus. Sisyphus is a story that dates back to ancient Greece. Sisyphus stole something from the gods and he was forced to roll a boulder up a hill and every time he got to the top of the hill the boulder always rolled back down. Cullen was wondering why God would do this to a man. Why would God keep letting this man suffer. Isn't God supposed to be the one who saves us and grants us our prayers? Cullen thinks not. The second image, Cullen talks about, is the blind mole. Cullen is thinking why would God have an innocent mole be blind? An animal that was handicapped in its ability to see is astonishing to Cullen. He thought God was the thing that made everything equal. Obviously not.
A sound device in the poem is alliteration. It appears in two lines. Line three: tortured Tantalus. Line four: fickle fruit. Another sound device is Rhyme Scheme. Due to the words at the end of the sentences the rhyme scheme is A,B,A,B,C,D,C,D,E,E,F,F,G,G. Cullen uses these sound devices to make us slow down and read the poem as a whole.He wants us to notice the little things and the big things. He wants us to understand how he feels about god and god's ways.
The only figure of speech that I found is the personification. There are two examples of personification in the poem. Cullen, in his first two lines, is talking about how he believes god is good, but he does have his doubts. He states that if god were to come down and quibble with Cullen that Cullen would understand why so many things were unfair. Here Cullen is giving God the ability to argue. The final personification is when Cullen is talking about how God has an awful brain and hand. How does he know that god has a brain or a hand. Cullen is wondering how can god do these thing to Tantalus and Sisyphus when God is supposed to protect us and care for us.
