Praise Song for the Day
She is only the fourth poet in American history to share her verse at a presidential inauguration. Elizabeth Alexander wrote Praise Song for the Day to celebrate the swearing in of her friend, and former University of Chicago colleague, Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States.听
But in the world of poetry, Jan. 20, 2009, is more likely to be remembered as the poetry reading with the largest audience in global history. The new president responded to Alexander鈥檚 poem with clear pleasure, but among her millions of other listeners reaction was more mixed.
Within hours of Alexander鈥檚 reading, the Internet was buzzing with both praise songs and harsh criticism of the poem, which is being published by Graywolf Press this week.
As might be expected, politics entered into the controversy. Obama supporters tend to聽 praise Alexander鈥檚 poem without citing specific passages. Obama detractors, on the other hand, are more likely to quote from the text, sometimes attributing nefarious socialist ideology to words as ambiguous as the pronoun 鈥渨e.鈥� Interestingly 鈥� few, pro or con 鈥� bothered to judge the value of Alexander鈥檚 poem in light of previous inaugural poetry.
Former US poet laureate Billy Collins noted before the inauguration about Alexander鈥檚 challenge, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 envy her. Such poems are nearly impossible to bring off.鈥� Collins attributed the challenge of a successful inauguration poem to 鈥渢he heaviness of the subject.鈥�
Robert Frost, the first inaugural poet chosen by John F. Kennedy, had a more tangible hassle. Frost鈥檚 eyes were blinded by sun glare when he tried to read his especially prepared poem, 鈥淒edication.鈥�
Instead, he recited from memory 鈥淭he Gift Outright,鈥� opening with the regal-sounding 鈥淭he land was ours before we were the land鈥檚.鈥� The poem narrates the New England founding of the United States, wholly appropriate to President Kennedy, if less so to non-New Englanders.
President Clinton invited two different poets to mark his inaugurations, Miller Williams from the University of Arkansas, and the poet-memoirist, Maya Angelou.
Miller鈥檚 鈥淥f History and Hope鈥� began in a less 鈥渉igh-sounding, poetic鈥� tone than Frost鈥檚, with 鈥淲e have memorized America/how it was born....鈥� Angelou鈥檚 鈥淥n the Pulse of the Morning鈥� also started with direct, everyday language, but language sharply, rhythmically stressed: 鈥淎 Rock. A River. A Tree/ Hosts to species long departed.鈥�
All three poets projected a vision of America鈥檚 future, with Frost鈥檚 poem conservatively envisioning a country that would continue to evolve from its New England roots. For Miller and Angelou, the America of the future was a land full of unimaginably hopeful possibilities of freedom and justice.
Alexander鈥檚 poem was more in the style of Miller and Angelou. It risked being the most plainspoken and uneventful-sounding of inaugural poems by opening with 鈥淓ach day we go about our business/ walking past each other.鈥�
Then it transitioned into images of an America of all colors, ethnicities, and occupations, hard at work:
Someone is stitching up a hem, darning
a hole in a uniform, patching a tire,
repairing the things in need of repair.
These working images closed with:
A teacher says, 鈥淭ake out your pencils.
Begin.
Alexander鈥檚 critics objected that this pedestrian utterance was not worthy of a poem for such an auspicious State occasion. Others, including some teachers, found the image fitting. The US is symbolically beginning to 鈥渨rite a new chapter鈥� with the inauguration of a president.
Midway through the poem鈥檚 fifteen stanzas, a very simple point is made: 鈥淚 know there鈥檚 something better down the road.鈥�
Listeners familiar with African-American blues will hear a resonance with similar wording in numerous songs. That stanza concluded with an idea found in earlier inaugural poems by Miller and Angelou, 鈥淲e walk into that which we cannot yet see.鈥�
Some might argue that Alexander鈥檚 poem should have stopped at this point. I might concur.
The remainder of the work repeated the assertion that this poem is a 鈥減raise song,鈥� evoking ancient African poetic songs performed to herald a new leader. Unfortunately, Alexander鈥檚 poem risked clich茅 with 鈥淲hat if the mightiest word is love?鈥� an idea perhaps far better amplified in much poetry from ages past.
But Alexander鈥檚 poem deserves repeated readings. It is not a poem to be fully appreciated in a single televised hearing. Flawless? No. The most inclusive and hopeful of all inauguration poems? Resoundingly, yes.
Norman Weinstein is a contributor to the Monitor鈥檚 Arts and Culture section.
