"Praise Song for the Day" is an occasional poem written by the American

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

Elizabeth Alexander and delivered at the 2009 presidential inauguration of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

. The poem is the fourth to be delivered at a

United States presidential inauguration The inauguration of the president of the United States is a ceremony to mark the commencement of a new four-year term of the president of the United States. During this ceremony, between 73 to 79 days after the presidential election, the pres ...

, following in the tradition of recitals by Robert Frost (

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

, 1961), Maya Angelou (

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

, 1993), and

Miller Williams Stanley Miller Williams (April 8, 1930January 1, 2015) was an American contemporary poet, as well as a translator and editor. He produced over 25 books and won several awards for his poetry. His accomplishments were chronicled in ''Arkansas Biog ...

(Bill Clinton, 1997). It consists of fourteen unrhymed three-line stanzas (

tercet A tercet is composed of three lines of poetry, forming a stanza or a complete poem. Examples of tercet forms English-language haiku is an example of an unrhymed tercet poem. A poetic triplet is a tercet in which all three lines follow the same ...

s) and a one-line coda. Delivered directly after Obama's inaugural address, it received a lukewarm response and was criticized as "too prosaic." Graywolf Press published the poem in

paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, ...

6 February 2009, with a first printing of 100,000 copies.

Adam Kirsch Adam Kirsch (born 1976) is an American poet and literary critic. He is on the seminar faculty of Columbia University's Center for American Studies, and has taught at YIVO. Life and career Kirsch was born in Los Angeles in 1976. He is the son of ...

called the poem "bureaucratic verse."

References

External links

Text of the poemVideo of the poem's recitation
American poems Inaugural poems 2009 poems African-American poetry First inauguration of Barack Obama Occasional poetry {{poetry-stub

See also

References

External links