In “Yet I Do Marvel”, a poem written by Countee Cullen, several intellectual allusions make an appearance. The author references two people of Greek mythology, Tantalus and Sisyphus. Both men were tortured due to their actions. Tantalus was trapped in a river just below a branch that held fruit but every time he reached up to eat it would raise higher and every time he lowered to drink it would recede further away. Sisyphus was cursed to push a boulder up a hill for all eternity in the underworld but every time he nearly reached the top it would fall back down to the bottom and he would have to start again.

While the poem does talk about God and how he works in mysterious ways, my original interpretation of the poem has now changed. After researching the author I learned that they are actually a black man and that the poem was written to show the struggle that black people face. Thus, the allusions are actually about how black people are made to suffer just as Tantalus and Sisyphus were made to suffer. The allusions to these two men enhance the poem’s message that God sometimes chooses people to suffer. While at a first glance it may merely seem that God works in mysterious ways, it is so much more. 

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