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Poets and Presidents
Only three times before has American poetry been this close to power. Following the lead of Presidents Kennedy and Clinton, President-elect Obama has asked poet Elizabeth Alexander to write a poem to read at his inauguration.
“It is not easy to summon a great poem on the spot,” said Tree Swenson, director of the Academy of American Poets. “You need a poem that is inspiring, but not corny or clichéd. A simple poem would be genuinely American.”
But Alexander seems up to the task. (See: "On Penning a Verse for the President-elect .") “I’m trying to approach it with all of my powers, but also with a tremendous sense of humbleness,” she said. “A poet should speak from her heart. I’m a big believer that the universal springs from the particular.”
Alexander on Obama's appreciation for poetry 
Audio (View Transcript)
Courtesy of Poetry Foundation. Full interview.
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Robert Frost and President John F. Kennedy
Robert Frost was a beloved figure in American literature when President Kennedy asked him to compose an inaugural poem. “[Frost] did not normally write commissioned works,” said Lesley Francis, his granddaughter.
Francis said Frost would have honored any request from Kennedy. The friendship between the men was rooted in Frost’s defense of New England against pundits who called it a “dead” region. Well before Kennedy had declared his candidacy, Frost had quipped, “the next president will be from New England.”
For the occasion, Frost penned “Dedication,” which Francis describes as “not one of his best efforts.” But wind and sun conspired so that he could not read the page. He switched to reciting from memory “The Gift Outright,” an earlier work. Francis said that, at the inaugural ball, Frost was depressed about how his reading went.
“In the end, the poem he recited was marvelous,” said Grace Cavalieri, host of The Poet and the Poem radio series.
Frost at Kennedy’s inauguration Audio (View Transcript)
© 1969 by Henry Holt and Company / © Estate of Robert Frost
Audio courtesy Kennedy Presidential Library
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Maya Angelou and President William J. Clinton
After a 32-year hiatus from the inclusion of poets at inaugurations, President Clinton’s request to Angelou might have been off-putting. Some critics think the honor made her try too hard to write grand lines.
“On the Pulse of Morning,” Angelou’s resulting poem, could be considered lofty, with its images of dinosaurs and “their sojourn here” and a rock, personified, that cries out “clearly, forcefully.”
But Angelou is a public-speaking phenomenon. Her performance made up for any possible deficiency in the words. “Maya Angelou could read the phone book and get people’s attention,” said Ethelbert Miller, poet and director of African-American studies at Howard University.
Angelou at Clinton’s inauguration Audio (View Transcript)
Courtesy Clinton Presidential Library
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Miller Williams and President Clinton
As a young man, Miller Williams met poet Robert Frost, who told Williams, “If you are ever asked to write a poem for an inauguration, tape it down” to the podium. In 1997, Williams found himself in just that position and considered strong tape, but opted instead to hold tightly to the papers on which he had typed “Of History and Hope.” Critics praise it as a strong poem, if not specific enough in some of its phrases.
Looking back today, Williams said he wishes he had written a shorter poem. He said it is hard to write on assignment; he prefers a process by which poems evolve from spontaneous thoughts.
Miller at Clinton’s 1997 inauguration Audio (View Transcript)
Courtesy Clinton Presidential Library
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Acting isn't really a creative profession. It's an interpretive one.