Harlem male writer Countee Cullen (1903 - 1946)

Countee Cullen a Negro poet of the Harlem Renaissance http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/ccullen.htm
Countee Cullen bio http://afroamhistory.about.com/od/counteecullen/p/bio_cullen_c.htm

Countee Cullen male Harlem writer's sonnet "Yet I Do Marvel"
I doubt not God is good, well-meaning, kind, And did He stoop to quibble could tell why The little buried mole continues blind, Why flesh that mirrors Him must someday die, Make plain the reason tortured Tantalus Is baited by the fickle fruit, declare If merely brute caprice dooms Sisyphus To struggle up a never-ending stair. Inscrutable His ways are, and immune To catechism by a mind too strewn With petty cares to slightly understand What awful brains compels His awful hand. Yet do I marvel at this curious thing: To make a poet black, and bid him sing! ('Yet Do I Marvel')

This sonnet is written with the purpose of justifying Countee being a black poet. His poem says that it is god’s will that he is black and a poet. This poem relates to the Harlem renaissance because like him being a black poet in a racist society the Harlem renaissance is the greatest collection of Negros showing the greatest art they have and are still treated with discrimination, despite the artistic greatness.
His sonnet utilizes rhyme, allusion, and irony. These elements effectively convey his message. The rhyme is reflective of the tasteful and entertaining dialogue of the renaissance where rhyme rolls off the tongue and onto the mind. Allusion to Greek mythology shows the rise in intellectualism among the Negro community, and the suffering that is unexplainable. The irony relates the renaissance to Countee.
Rhyme sounds attractive and in this sonnet rhyme is abundant. Like the jazz dessert for the ears the rhyme serves the same purpose for the brain. Had this sonnet not rhyme it would have not been near as popular. The rhymes appeal not only to those searching for meaningful sonnets but to the casual reader. Anything that rhymes such as creative ad jingles or slogans sticks with a person more than a collection of words that flows as well as water being poured onto a super absorbent sponge.
Allusion to the Greek mythology showcases the education level of the Negro and presents un-explainable suffering. Like the “tortured Tantalus” or doomed Sisyphus Countee too experiences discrimination that is unexplainable. Countee and the Greeks mentioned are not the only ones who receive discrimination unexplainable by man but so do all the Negros of America.
Countee’s irony makes valid points clear such that god is great and protecting yet he delivers insurmountable demands and punishments. If god loves one so much than why does he punish them with such extremes punishments? There is also irony in Countee’s position as a black poet. Despite him being a great poet and being able to successfully write about his predicament he still suffers the pain of no recognition.
Countee’s poem relates to the renaissance because it is the Negro man expressing his dissent over the injustice of racial discrimination in America home of the free. The Harlem renaissance is the uprising of the artistic expression by the Negro this sonnet is just reflection of that uprising.