Sonnet. A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem that follows one of a number of different rhyme schemes. The rhyme scheme of a Shakespearean, English, or Elizabethan sonnet is abab cdcd efef gg. Like the Shakespearean sonnet, “Yet Do I Marvel” can be divided into four parts: three quatrains, or four-line stanzas, and a final couplet, or two-line stanza. As you look at the poem, determine how the rhyme scheme varies slightly from that of a Shakespearean sonnet.
Allusion. An allusion is a figure of speech in which a reference is made to a person, event, object, or work from history or literature.
Simile. A simile is a comparison using like or as. As you read “Any Human to Another,” look for the similes.
Theme. A theme is a central idea in a literary work.
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“Yet Do I Marvel” appeared in On These I Stand (1947), the collection considered to include Cullen’s best poetry. The final lines of the selection are among the most famous of all produced by the poets of the Harlem Renaissance.
“Any Human to Another” appeared in The Medea and Some Poems (1935). A lyric poem, it addresses the sorrow that afflicts all humans and the need to share and alleviate one another’s pain.
Countee Cullen Monument, 1995. Meredith Bergmann.
New York Public Library.
As you read, make a chart. On the left, list the allusions from the selection. On the right, describe the allusions. One example has been done for you.
As you read, make a cluster chart about what the speaker learns about sorrow.
Have you ever marveled at a seemingly unexplainable event or occurrence? What was the event and how did you try to understand it?
With whom do you share your pain when you are hurt by events in this world?
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