Maya Angelou's "On the Pulse of Morning" fits into the distinct genre of poems read at American presidential inaugurations. This particular work was read in 1993, at the inauguration of Bill Clinton. The poem's occasional nature gives it particular qualities. For one thing, it is written primarily to be read out loud, which has an effect on its sound elements in particular—choices like rhythm and alliteration. It is also written for a dramatic, consequential moment. Its sweeping scale and urgent advice hint at both the political nature and the ceremonial pomp and circumstance of its first reading. Finally, its content is centered on American history and American culture, which are clearly relevant topics for the inauguration of a U.S. president. Here, we will discuss the history of this micro-genre, and describe a few examples of the poems read at past inaugurations.
Four American presidents have invited poets to read at their inaugurations: John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden. Kennedy, in 1961, invited the poet Robert Frost, a fellow New Englander. The two men shared a certain relationship, Kennedy having used a modified version of lines from Frost's poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" as part of his own campaign stump speech. At the inauguration, Frost read a poem entitled "The Gift Outright." He in fact had intended to read an entirely different poem, entitled "Dedication." "Dedication" was composed specifically for the occasion of Kennedy's inauguration, making reference to the recent election, but when Frost stood to read it to the crowd, the sun's glare prevented him from doing so. He instead recited "The Gift Outright," another poem about America's landscapes and history, from memory.
It would be another three decades before poetry was again read at a U.S. presidential inauguration. In 1993, Angelou read "On the Pulse of Morning" at Bill Clinton's first inauguration, becoming both the first woman and the first Black poet to read at an inauguration. As explicated elsewhere in this guide, her work focused on America's natural landscape, much like Frost's—but in her poem that landscape is a speaker, asking humanity to change its treatment of one another and of nature. Four years later, Clinton invited the poet Miller Williams to read at his second inauguration. Like Kennedy, Clinton this time selected a poet from his own home region, in this case from his native Arkansas. In fact, Williams was an established and important figure within the Southern poetry scene. Williams, like Angelou, focused on the struggle of fashioning a hopeful future from an imperfect past, reading a poem entitled "Of History and Hope." Despite the shared themes between Angelou and Williams' work, their styles diverged greatly. Williams opted for a more straightforward and explicit discussion of American history, and used a stricter pattern of rhyme and meter relative to Angelou's freer, less predictable verse.
Barack Obama, like Clinton, had two different poets read at his two presidential inaugurations. Elizabeth Alexander, who read at his first inauguration in 2009, performed a poem entitled "Praise Song for the Day." Like Angelou, Alexander focused on the importance of everyday life and small human kindnesses. In addition, her poem also spoke about the necessity of honoring and remembering ancestors who helped to create America, whether voluntarily or as enslaved people. Alexander's poem had a more structured form than those of her predecessors, consisting almost entirely of tercets with one single-line stanza, or monostich, as its conclusion. This monostich helps symbolize the incomplete future and its difference from the patterns of the past. For his second inauguration, Obama invited the poet Richard Blanco, who read a work entitled "One Today." In an interview, Blanco described closely studying Angelou's inaugural poem and aiming to create a continuity with the inaugural poems of the past. Most recently, Joe Biden invited the poet Amanda Gorman to his 2021 inauguration. Gorman read a work titled "The Hill We Climb," which focused on the fragility and importance of democracy as an institution. Gorman was notable for being the youngest poet ever selected to read at an inauguration.
These poems share certain themes and formal qualities. This is partly because they speak to the themes commonly discussed at events like inaugurations—American history, political change, diversity, and unity. Furthermore, they share an oral mode of delivery, which alters the priorities of the poet. But they also are similar in certain ways because the poets commissioned for these occasions have tended to look to their predecessors for guidance and inspiration. While this category of poems is small, it is also important, in the sense that presidential inaugurations are highly publicized and widely watched events: these poems reach unusually large audiences and therefore have a comparatively enormous amount of influence on popular opinions about poetry as a whole.
