American inaugural poetry: poetics and style
Abstract
The paper represents critical reflection on a fifty-five-year history of American inaugural poetry. The research opens with the overview of theoretical aspects of occasional poetry, focusing on poetics and style of the poems commissioned for presidential inaugurations. Further on the article outlines the history of inaugural poetry in the U.S. Special attention is given to the comparative analysis of the poems The Gift Outright by Robert Frost, On the Pulse of Morning by Maya Angelou, Of History and Hope by Miller Williams, Praise Song for the Day by Elizabeth Alexander and One Today by Richard Blanco. The comparative research focuses on the representation of the major themes, ideas and imagery in the above-mentioned inaugural poems.
Downloads
References
Alexander, E. (2009). Praise Song for the Day: A Poem for Barack Obama’s Presidential Inauguration. [online] Available at: http://edwardbyrne.blogspot.ru/2009/01/inaugural-poem-by-elizabeth-alexander.html [Accessed: 4 Nov. 2017].
Angelou, M. (1994). On the Pulse of Morning, The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou. New York, Random House.
Blanco, R. (2013a). Inaugural Poet: My story is America’s // CNN. – January 22, 2013. [online] Available at: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/20/opinion/blanco-inaugural-poet [Accessed: 4 Nov. 2017].
Blanco, R. (2013b). One Today // The Los Angeles Times. – January 21, 2013. [online] Available at: http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jan/21/news/la-pn-inauguration-2013-richard-blanco-poem-20130121[Accessed: 4 Nov. 2017].
Borland, B. (ed.) (2017). If You Can Hear This: Poems in Protest of an American Inauguration. Little Rock, Arkansas: Sibling Rivalry Press.
Burch, M. R. (2013). Richard Blanco’s Inaugural Poem: “One Today”. [online] Available at: http://www.thehypertexts.com/Richard%20Blanco%20Inaugural%20Poem%20One%20Today.htm [Accessed: 4 Nov. 2017].
Burr, Z. (2011). Maya Angelou on the Inaugural Stage, American Women Poets, Ed. H. Bloom. New York: Bloom’s Literary Criticism.
Charis-Carlson, J. (2009). Guest Posting: A Review of Elizabeth Alexander’s “Praise Song”. Poetry & Popular Culture. January 20. [online] Available at: http://mikechasar.blogspot.com/2009/01/guest-posting-review-of-elizabeth.html [Accessed: 4 Nov. 2017].
Clines, Fr. X. (1997). Inaugural Poetry: The Ode Not Taken. The New York Times. January 19. [online] Available at: www.nytimes.com/1997/01/19/weekinterview/inaugural-poetry-the-ode-not-taken.html [Accessed: 4 Nov. 2017].
Crouch, I. (2013). Poetry for Presidents. The New Yorker. January 18. [online] Available at: http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/poetry-for-presidents [Accessed: 4 Nov. 2017].
DeMillo, A. (2015). Obituaries. The Washington Post. [online] Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/miller-williams-arkansas-poet-who-read-at-clinton-inauguration-dies-at-84/2015/01/03/ [Accessed: 4 Nov. 2017].
Dickey, J. L. (1979). The Strength of Fields. [[online] Available at: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/42714 [Accessed: 4 Nov. 2017].
Emmons, C. W. (1857). An Ode in Honor of the Inauguration of Buchanan & Breckinridge, President and Vice President of the United States. [online] Available at: https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=pin_mssmisc&fileName=pin/pin2203/pin2203page.db&recNum=4 [Accessed: 4 Nov. 2017].
Frost, R. (1964). The Gift Outright, Complete Poems of Robert Frost. New York, Chicago, San Francisco: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Garner, D. (2008). The Intersection of Poetry and Politics. The New York Times. December 25. [online] Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/25/books/25poet.html [Accessed: 4 Nov. 2017].
Hochfield, G. (1975). New England Transcendentalism, The Sphere History of Literature in the English Language, Vol. 8, American Literature to 1900, Ed. M. Cunliffe. London: Sphere Books Limited.
Holman, B. and Snyder M. (2017). Poems Read at the Inauguration Ceremonies for U.S. Presidents. Presidential Inauguration Poems. May 5. [online] Available at: https://www.thoughtco.com/presidential-inauguration-poems-2725494 [Accessed: 4 Nov. 2017].
Kamholtz, J. Z. (1983). Ben Jonson’s Epigrammes and Poetic Occasions. Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900. Vol. 23. №1. [online] Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/450398 [Accessed: 4 Nov. 2017].
Kirsch, A. (2009). Adam Kirsch On Elizabeth Alexander Bureaucratic Verse. The New Republic. January 20. [online] Available at: https://newrepublic.com/article/47178/adam-kirsch-elizabeth-alexanders-bureaucratic-verse [Accessed: 4 Nov. 2017].
Lupton, M. J. (1998). Heart of a Woman, Mind of a Writer, and Soul of a Poet: A Critical Analysis, Of the Writings of Maya Angelou. Lanham: Maryland University Press.
Manning, K. (2016). Praise Beyond the Day: The Reception of Elizabeth Alexander’s Inaugural Poem. TAB: The Journal of Poetry & Poetics. Vol. 4. №2.
Mathis, A. E. (2005). Angelou, Maya, Companion to 20th-century poetry, Ed. B. Kimmelman. New York: Facts On File, Inc.
Mosson, G. (2010). Janus-Faced Optimism: America’s Inaugural Poetry. The Potomac: The Journal of Poetry and Politics Summer. Issue 10. [online] Available at: http://thepotomacjournal.com/issue10/ArticlesReviews/Gregg_Mosson.html
Pinsky, R. (2000). Occasional poetry and poetry on occasions. The Paris Review. Spring.
Schmitzer, U. (2006). Occasional poetry, Brill’s New Pauly, Antiquity volumes, Ed. H. Cancik and H. Schneider. [online] Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e420930
Tobar, H. (2013). Inauguration 2013: Richard Blanco’s poem captures nation’s hope, unease.The Los Angeles Times. January 21. [online] Available at: http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jan/21/entertainment/la-et-jc-richard-blanco-inaugural-poem-of-unity-hope-unease-20130121
Waldman, K. (2013). Inaugural Poems You May Have Missed. Slate. January 22. [online] Available at: http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/01/22/richard_blanco_one_today_and_other_inaugural_poems_from_yahoo_news_reviewed.html
Wedin, C. (2011). How to Write about Maya Angelou. New York: Bloom’s Literary Criticism.
Williams, M. (1997). Of History and Hope. [online] Available at: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/47107
Williams, N. (2011). Contemporary Poetry. Edinburgh University Press.
Ulin, D. L. (2009). Inaugural poem is less than praiseworthy. The Los Angeles Times. January 21. [online] Available at: http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jan/21/nation/na-inaug-poet21
