We’re all the same or we’re different and have our own culture and tradition

In this blog I’m going to give a reflective comment on two poems/strategies. Yet Do I Marvel from Countee Cullen and The White House from Claude McKay.

Yet Do I Marvel – Countee Cullen 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 brain compels His awful hand. Yet do I marvel at this curious thing: To make a poet black, and bid him sing!

The first poem has a kind of hidden anger in it, like in the first sentence; “I doubt not God is good. The strategy of the writer is defiantly “We are all the same”. The writer wants that people from another culture (African-Americans) can have the reputation as the white ones. During the tough history, he wants to keep his head up high;” To struggle up a never-ending stair”. He wants to tell us that other cultures are different and in that way not good. Some deep-meaning words and names are used in the descriptions of his believing. In his poem, it shows that he is a wise man with a lot of knowledge. He also probably has a high level of manipulating by using language. The writer wants to show that he has a great ability and knowledge in many aspects that the other white writers never could come up with.

The White House – Claude McKay Your door is shut against my tightened face, And I am sharp as steel with discontent; But I possess the courage and the grace To bear my anger proudly and unbent. The pavement slabs burn loose beneath my feet, A chafing savage, down the decent street; And passion rends my vitals as I pass, Where boldly shines your shuttered door of glass. Oh, I must search for wisdom every hour, Deep in my wrathful bosom sore and raw, And find in it the superhuman power To hold me to the letter of your law! Oh, I must keep my heart inviolate Against the potent poison of your hate.

The second poem has also a bit of anger in it, but here it isn’t hidden:” Your door is shut against my tightened face”; here the writer clearly shows the anger. The strategy of the writer is definitely:”We are different and have our own culture and tradition”. The “main character” has a fight with someone and the writer clearly shows that in the poem. He shows that there are differences between the two people who have a fight.The poem is written in easier language as the one from Countee Cullen.  The structures of the sentences are simple. It is easier to find the meaning of the sentence when you compare it to the “Yet Do I Marvel” poem.

Both poems show an idea how to look to different people; I prefer the one from Countee Cullen, which is that we are all the same. Actually we are all the same but we do look different. We’re all people and we all have to life on the same earth. We have to share it and it doesn’t make sense if we start huge fights like in the poem of Claude McKay. As a conclusion we can say:”It is better to all be the same”!