Inaugural Poem Celebrates Hand-lettered Signs

For President Barack Obama’s inauguration, Elizabeth Alexander delivered her poem, “Praise Song for the Day.” Perhaps this is the first time in history that hand-lettered signs were praised at a presidential inauguration.

“Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day. Praise song for every hand-lettered sign; The figuring it out at kitchen tables.”

Alexander is the fourth poet to compose a special poem for an inauguration, following Robert Frost, for John F. Kennedy, and Maya Angelou and Miller Williams, for Bill Clinton.

As a one-year-old in 1963, Alexander had been carried to see Dr. King’s "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered in 1963 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

For the inauguration, Alexander composed an "occasional poem," or verse produced for a special event. Occasional poetry originated with classical Latin poets, who used it to honor leaders and commemorate ceremonies of home and state. Since then it's become less common, though it enjoyed flashes of favor in the 17th and 18th centuries.

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Goethe asserted that "occasional poetry is the highest kind."

Alexander, who was born in Harlem, grew up in Washington, DC. She received a bachelor’s degree from Yale, a master’s from Boston University (where she studied with Derek Walcott, who won the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature), and a Ph.D. in English from the university of Pennsylvania.

Her “American Sublime” was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Her poems, short stories and critical writing have been published in such publications and The Paris Review, The Kenyon Review, Prairie Schooner, The Village Voice and The Washington Post.

Poet Rita Dove said that Alexander’s “poems bristle with the irresistible quality of a world seen fresh.”