On Tuesday, January 20, 2009, Elizabeth Alexander read a poem at the inauguration of Barack Obama, one of the most closely watched inaugurations in U.S. history. Elizabeth Alexander crafted the poem “Praise Song for the Day” for the occasion, drawing inspiration from poets such as Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Hayden, and Walt Whitman. Alexander is the fourth poet in United States history to read at a presidential inauguration.
Critics have been raving about the poem, as Arnold Rampersad in the
PITTSBURGH POST calls it “audacious in its modesty, deliberately diminutive. . . a beautifully subversive poem.” The
NEW YORK TIMES reports that [Maya] Angelou said that when she heard of Ms. Alexander’s selection, she smiled. “She seems much like Walt Whitman,” she said. “She sings the American song.”
Graywolf’s chapbook,
Praise Song for the Day: A Poem for Barack Obama’s Presidential Inauguration, is now available in a bilingual Spanish/English edition.
Canto de Alabanza para el Día: Poema para la Ceremonia Inaugural del Mandato de Barack Obamaan is an elegant commemorative edition in honor of the historic occasion. This slender volume features French flaps and a silver foil stamp on heavy, uncoated stock. The chapbook will serve as a cherished reminder of this historic presidential event. Alexander’s poem challenges our citizens to “look to something better down the road” and sing a “praise song for walking forward in that light.”
“Professor Alexander is a virtuosic writer and a shrewd analyst of American letters, a polyglot who moves fluently from essay to sonnet, from free verse to drama—and in her teaching, traces equally diverse themes.”
—SLATE.COM
