1a. What tragic circumstances in the world and in stories from mythology does the speaker mention in lines 3–8?
2a. What comparison does the speaker make between the mind of God and the mind of a human?
3a. At what does the speaker marvel? What paradox does the speaker seem to see in "this curious thing"?
4a. Do you agree with the explanation the speaker offers that God has reasons for the existence of cruelty, pain, death, and injustice in the world? Why, or why not?
1b. What does the speaker not doubt, despite the existence of pain?
2b. How does the speaker respond to the old argument that a just God would not allow pain or injustice to continue?
3b. Why is it curious that a black poet would be bid to sing?
4b. What current events or personal incidents can you think of that mirror the injustices in lines 3–8 that the speaker talks about?
Sonnet. How does the rhyme scheme of the selection differ from that of a Shakespearean sonnet?
Allusion. Refer to the chart that you made in Literary Tools. What purpose is served by the allusions to these two myths? Of what kinds of experiences are the myths examples?
1a. In stanza 1, what does the speaker observe about sorrow?
2a. What happens to individual suffering, according to stanza 2?
3a. According to the final stanza, what expectation does the speaker have of others' pain?
4a. Identify that which all people share, according to the speaker.
5a. Do the speaker's views offer a healthy psychological perspective?
1b. To what does the speaker compare his sorrow?
2b. When "Your grief and mine" are intertwined, does a person's individual experience diminish?
3b. How should a person transfer his or her sorrow?
4b. Why is joy selective, addressing only "a few"?
5b. The English poet John Donne said, "No man is an island, entire of itself." What stanza in "Any Human to Another" does this sentiment echo?
Simile.To what are "The ills I sorrow at" compared in stanza 1? To what is "Your every grief" compared in the final stanza? What characteristics do the subject and object of both comparisons have in common?
Theme.Refer to the cluster chart you made in Literary Tools. What do you think is the theme of "Any Human to Another"?
1. Write a journal entry describing your "petty cares" today.
2. Imagine you are Countee Cullen. Write a letter to your readers explaining why you entitled your poem "Any Human to Another."
3. Write blues lyrics that are based on an aspect of the African-American experience.
Using Context Clues.Use context clues to identify the meaning of "awful" in line 12 of "Yet Do I Marvel" and "unsheathed" in line 27 of "Any Human to Another."
