Yet Do I Marvel Questions

Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.

  1. What effect does form have on content in "Yet Do I Marvel?" What are the effects of writing the poem as a sonnet and how does it shape your overall understanding of the poem's message? 
  2. In "Yet Do I Marvel," what role does Greek mythology play in helping the speaker express his feelings about God, and his situation as a black poet?
  3. What is it about "marveling" that is so crucial for the speaker in this poem? 
  4. Why does the speaker say God is good and then later describe God's mind and hand as "awful"? 
  5. What do you make of that? And in what sense is he using the word "awful"?
  6. Do the last two lines of the poem contradict or support the rest of the poem? If these two lines are the turn in the poem, what are they turning away from? Or better yet, what are they turning into?