Praise Song for the Day
BYELIZABETH ALEXANDER
A Poem for Barack Obama’s Presidential Inauguration
Each day we go about our business,
walking past each other, catching each other’s
eyes or not, about to speak or speaking.
All about us is noise. All about us is
noise and bramble, thorn and din, each
one of our ancestors on our tongues.
Someone is stitching up a hem, darning
a hole in a uniform, patching a tire,
repairing the things in need of repair.
Someone is trying to make music somewhere,
with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum,
with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.
A woman and her son wait for the bus.
A farmer considers the changing sky.
A teacher says,Take out your pencils. Begin.
We encounter each other in words, words
spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed,
words to consider, reconsider.
We cross dirt roads and highways that mark
the will of some one and then others, who said
I need to see what’s on the other side.
I know there’s something better down the road.
We need to find a place where we are safe.
We walk into that which we cannot yet see.
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,
picked the cotton and the lettuce, built
brick by brick the glittering edifices
they would then keep clean and work inside of.
Praise song for struggle, praise song for the day.
Praise song for every hand-lettered sign,
the figuring-it-out at kitchen tables.
Some live bylove thy neighbor as thyself,
others by first do no harm or take no more
than you need.What if the mightiest word is love?
Love beyond marital, filial, national,
love that casts a widening pool of light,
love with no need to pre-empt grievance.
In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air,
any thing can be made, any sentence begun.
On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,
praise song for walking forward in that light.
Copyright © 2009 by Elizabeth Alexander. All rights reserved. Reprinted with the permission of Graywolf Press, Saint Paul, Minnesota. A chapbook edition of Praise Song for the Day will be published on February 6, 2009.
Source:Praise Song for the Day(Graywolf Press, 2009)
Poetry Analysis Worksheet
Title of Poem______
Author______
Literal Meaning
After you read the poem, what does the literal meaning seem to be? What is happening in the poem?
Imagery
Pick out three uses of imagery and write them below (this will most likely be a phrase or line from the poem), then explain what the poet is trying to convey with this image.
1]. IMAGE:______
MEANING:______
2]. IMAGE:______
MEANING:______
3]. IMAGE:______
MEANING:______
Lyric Qualities
Describe the sound of this poem. You will use terms like: internal rhyme, rhyme scheme, alliteration, onomatopoeia, and repetition. Find two specific lines or elements of the poem to discuss. List them and then tell what you think they mean.
1]. Lyric Device:______
Meaning:______
2]. Lyric Device:______
Meaning:______
Figurative Meaning
Find at least two figurative devices and explain what they mean. You are looking for terms like: simile, metaphor, allusion, symbolism and personification.
1]. Figurative Device:______
Meaning:______
2]. Figurative Device:______
Meaning:______
Theme
What do you think is the message of this poem?
Why do you think this is the message? Give at least two reasons from the poem—these should be answers you’ve already written on this sheet
Personal Response
Did you like this poem? ______
Why/Why not?
______
I Love You Sweatheart
byThomas Lux
A man risked his life to write the words.
A man hung upside down (an idiot friend
holding his legs?) with spray paint
to write the words on a girder fifty feet above
a highway. And his beloved,
the next morning driving to work…?
His words are not (meant to be) so unique.
Does she recognize his handwriting?
Did he hint to her at her doorstep the night before
of "something special, darling, tomorrow"?
And did he call her at work
expecting her to faint with delight
at his celebration of her, his passion, his risk?
She will know I love her now,
the world will know my love for her!
A man risked his life to write the words.
Love is like this at the bone, we hope, love
is like this, Sweetheart, all sore and dumb
and dangerous, ignited, blessed - always,
regardless, no exceptions,
always in blazing matters like these: blessed.
Poem:"I Love You Sweatheart," byThomas LuxfromNew and Selected Poems: 1975-1995(Houghton Mifflin Co.).
Poetry Analysis Worksheet
Title of Poem______
Author______
Literal Meaning
After you read the poem, what does the literal meaning seem to be? What is happening in the poem?
Imagery
Pick out three uses of imagery and write them below (this will most likely be a phrase or line from the poem), then explain what the poet is trying to convey with this image.
1]. IMAGE:______
MEANING:______
2]. IMAGE:______
MEANING:______
3]. IMAGE:______
MEANING:______
Lyric Qualities
Describe the sound of this poem. You will use terms like: internal rhyme, rhyme scheme, alliteration, onomatopoeia, and repetition. Find two specific lines or elements of the poem to discuss. List them and then tell what you think they mean.
1]. Lyric Device:______
Meaning:______
2]. Lyric Device:______
Meaning:______
Figurative Meaning
Find at least two figurative devices and explain what they mean. You are looking for terms like: simile, metaphor, allusion, symbolism and personification.
1]. Figurative Device:______
Meaning:______
2]. Figurative Device:______
Meaning:______
Theme
What do you think is the message of this poem?
Why do you think this is the message? Give at least two reasons from the poem—these should be answers you’ve already written on this sheet
Personal Response
Did you like this poem? ______
Why/Why not?
______