Inaugural poems have common themes and purposes.
We will look at Robert Frost's "The Gift Outright" http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/237942
Maya Angelou's "On the Pulse of Morning" http://poetry.eserver.org/angelou.html
Elizabeth Alexander's "Praise Song for the Day" http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/us/politics/20text-poem.html?_r=0
Richard Blanco's "One Today" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/22/one-today-the-full-text-o_n_2526439.html
How do these poems relate to one another? Specifically, how does Richard Blanco's "One Today" resonate or echo earlier inaugural poems?
Post a comment after you have read his poem.
I thought that one important way that "One Today" connected to the other inauguration poems is that it celebrated commonalities between all Americans. "Apples, limes, and oranges arrayed like rainbows begging our praise... many prayers, but one light breathing color into stained glass windows... hello, shalom,
ReplyDeletebuon giorno, howdy, namaste, or buenos días in the language my mother taught me—in every language spoken into one wind carrying our lives." Each of these various quotes in some way shows how when Mr. Blanco is writing his poem, he's writing his poem to everyone. The rainbow, a symbol of diversity, a basic level of faith at the source of all religion, and one greeting that everyone says, though maybe in a different language. Besides what we've already talked about in class, "One Today" is similar to Maya Angelou, Robert Frost, and Elizabeth Alexander in that way, because all poems seem to call out to all portions of the American people, regardless of their race or social status and accept them in the next four years of American history.
These poems relate to one another in the fact that they are all directed towards presidents. Also, they include elements of the past, of some sort. They also praise America and the nation. These poem were amazing. These poems were cool. These poem were totally hip. Richard kept his poem within the guidelines of previous poems. He kept the focus of the President, America and the past and future throughout his whole piece. He was very, very, VERY good! :D
ReplyDeleteThe Land!
ReplyDeleteThese poems relate to each other in a few ways. First, because they are all about the country in some way or another, and all allude to how we are all essentially the same. Richard Blanco’s poem “One Today” resonates the earlier inaugural poems because he talks about different cultures that exist in America, just as Maya Angelou does in her poem. Also, he talks about the Native Americans and the way they respect land, like Robert Frost did when he read his inaugural poem. The reading of all these inaugural poems clearly shows how poets use other poets as inspiration, and even borrow their writing style when they have seen that something they’ve done, something they themselves must now do, was a success. For example, in Maya Angelou’s poem she writes, “So say the Asian, Hispanic, the Jew the African and Native American…” and in Richard Blanco writes, “hello, shalom. Buon giorno, howdy, Namaste, or Buenos dias.” Both show how diverse the culture in America is, and it also shows how Blanco borrows ideas from previous poets who gave riveting inaugural poems. Also, it shows how much inspiration can come from just a few lines from a poet who is respected and honored.
ReplyDeleteEach of these poems, besides the fact that each were written in honor of a presidential inauguration, share a great deal of commonalities. Stylistically, a lot of the poems utilized anaphora and similar motifs. Land was an especially prominent facet. In Robert Frost’s poem, he personifies the land as almost a living person. “The land was ours before we were the land’s. She was our land more than a hundred years before we were her people.” This theme was further reflected in Maya Angelou’s poem, focusing on the specific things found in the land and nature. “Here, on the pulse of this fine day you may have the courage to look up and out upon me, the Rock, the River, the Tree, your country.” She places emphasis on life, past and present. Both Richard Blanco and Elizabeth Alexander’s poem resonate this, incorporating a modern air of change and a type of social reform. “One sun rose on us today, kindled over our shores, peeking over the Smokies, greeting the faces of the Great Lakes, spreading a simple truth across the Great Plains, then charging across the Rockies.”
ReplyDeleteBlanco's poem, "One Today," is reminiscent of the inaugural poems that came before him, particularly the poems of Robert Frost, Maya Angelou, and Elizabeth Alexander. It resonates with the themes of the previous poems: reflection on the past, and an expression a feeling of hope for the future. This is appropriate, seeing as they are meant to usher in a better four years with a new president and new promises. Robert Frost writes, "The land was our before we were the land's." Maya Angelou: "A Rock, A River, A Tree, Hosts to species long since departed, Marked the mastodon." Blanco's poem begins, "One sun rose on us today, kindled over our shores, peeking over the Smokies, greeting the faces of the Great Lakes, spreading a simple truth across the Great Plains, then charging across the Rockies." This common reference to the land reflects a pride in the nation and its beauty.
ReplyDeleteBoth Blanco and Angelou end their poems on a note of hope. Angelou writes, "Here on the pulse of this new day
You may have the grace to look up and out
And into your sister's eyes, into
Your brother's face, your country
And say simply
Very simply
With hope
Good morning."
Similarly, Blanco concludes his poem with an appeal to the same sense of connection and togetherness.
"We head home: through the gloss of rain or weight
of snow, or the plum blush of dusk, but always—home,
always under one sky, our sky."
This sense of hope for the future illustrates a need to heal some of the wounds in the nation’s past, and to move forward, as one, to a brighter future.
The poem "One Today" by Richard Blanco was written with the intent of echoing the same message as the poems written by Maya Angelou and Robert Frost. Each poem has a similar motif about nature and coming into our land. Blanco's poem seems to convey this message of a new day but also embracing the past. As the order of the poems advance chronologically, the same message remains that American as a whole should reflect on the past and embrace the future building on the lessons we have learned from our ancestors. Elizabeth Alexander’s poem echoes this by saying, “Say it plain: that many have died for this day. Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges.” It is clear she was inspired by Maya Angelou whose poem says, “A Rock, A River, A Tree Hosts to species long since departed, Marked the mastodon.” By the “mastodon” Angelou could be referring to the large history that marks America. She intends to refer to history of the country and of our ancestors while also referencing to the hopeful tone for the future. Every inaugural poem echoes the same motif about embracing our ancestral history and using these lessons as a guide for our future.
ReplyDeleteRichard Blanco's poem "One Today" relates to the other inaugural poems by Robert Frost, Elizabeth Alexander, and Maya Angelou in the way it's written and also with the things the poems say. All of the poems are filled with metaphors and similes that are usually based on nature or beautiful things. The theme of the poems are hope and change. They all talk about the hope that the people have with having a new president and the change that they hope will come.
ReplyDeleteThese poems relate to one another by the way they are written. They all share similar stanzas and themes concerning nature. Some of them also talk about race and how we should all be more united. "One sun rose on us today, kindled over our shores, peeking over the Smokies, greeting the faces of the Great Lakes," Is one form of how they relate our life back to nature.
ReplyDeleteMany presidential inaugurations have included a poet reading his or her pome to America. The most recent, President Obama’s inauguration, included “One Today,” read by the author Richard Blanco. Blanco seemed to follow earlier inaugural poems with similar themes. These poems include “The Gift Outright,” by Robert Frost, “On the Pulse of Morning,” by Maya Angelou, and Elizabeth Alexander’s “Praise Song for the Day.” At first sight, these poems seem to have resonated the same message of a once pure America and a presently busy nation. In Frost’s poem, “The land was ours before we were the land’s. She was our land more than a hundred years before we were her people.” In Angelou’s inaugural poem, “A rock, a river, a tree hosts to species long since departed, marked the mastodon. The dinosaur, who left dry tokens of their sojourn here on our planet floor, any broad alarm of their hastening doom is lost in the gloom of dust and ages.” From these quotes we can get a hint of an early American history and natural things. In Balnco’s, we hear busy, modern happenings. “All of us vital as the one light we move through, the same light on blackboards with lessons for the day: equations to solve, history to question, or atoms imagined, the “I have a dream,” we keep dreaming, or the impossible vocabulary to sorrow… hear: squeaky playground swings, trains whistling, or whispers across café tables.” Both poems resonate occurrences in America, whether it be a river flowing, mountains creeping, or a teacher writing an equation has a train whistles by. Fit for an inauguration, these poems continue a precedent that presidents look for at the beginning of their presidency.
ReplyDelete