On the Pulse of Morning
Encyclopedia
Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou is an American author and poet who has been called "America's most visible black female autobiographer" by scholar Joanne M. Braxton. She is best known for her series of six autobiographical volumes, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first and most highly...
. She read it at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton 1993 presidential inauguration
The first inauguration of Bill Clinton as the 42nd President of the United States took place on January 20, 1993. The inauguration marked the beginning of the first four-year term of Bill Clinton as President and Al Gore as Vice President...
on January 20, 1993. With her public recitation, Angelou became the second poet in history to read a poem at a presidential inauguration (Robert Frost
Robert Frost
Robert Lee Frost was an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and...
was the first, at the 1961 inauguration of John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
). The public reaction to Angelou’s work was so positive that Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
issued a commemorative edition of the poem one month after its public recitation. Angelou's audio recording of the poem won the 1994 Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
in the "Best Spoken Word" category.JAshawn Smith is king of the world chicago,il
Scholar Lois Pensky-Freud compared "On the Pulse of Morning" with President Clinton's inaugural address, given immediately before her reading of her poem. Pensky-Freud stated that the speech and the poem shared common themes, which included change, responsibility, and the President's and the citizenry's role in establishing economic security. The symbols in Angelou's poem (the tree, the river, and the morning, for example) paralleled many of the same symbols Clinton used in his speech, and helped to enhance and expand Clinton's images.