Can Barack Obama bring poetry back into fashion?
It's been announced that poet is to read at Obama's inauguration as president in January.
Elizabeth Alexander reads two poems from American Blue, Ars Poetica #92: Marcus Garvey on Elocution and Ars Poetica #100: I Believe
It's only the fourth time that verse has been included in the ceremony - the previous politicians to make this choice were John F Kennedy and Bill Clinton (twice). Jimmy Carter's inaugural gala featured a poem written by , but for some reason nobody's talking about it (I'm not sure of the difference between the ceremony and the gala). Every second blog I've looked at has made the rather obvious remark that there was no poetry featured in George W Bush's inauguration; although in the Guardian does at least go on to give Bush credit for quoting Robert Frost in his speech.
On top of his election success Obama has secured impressive spots in both the US and UK book charts with his two autobiographies, one of which is still at number three; not bad going when you consider the popular appeal of cookery and celebrity rants at this time of year. Will a presidential endorsement push Elizabeth Alexander into the bestseller chart? Anything is possible in this hopeful new age, but I'd be surprised. Top of the poetry bestseller chart is Leonard Cohen's Book of Longing, and it only makes it to 418 on the general book list.
Anything that encourages people to read poetry seems positive - it now seems like such a niche art form, albeit it one that has passionate advocates. I was unfamiliar with Elizabeth Alexander's work before this, but she seems like a good choice for a wider readership. blog describes her as follows, "...like Obama himself, she is a thinker. Her poems indicate someone inward-looking and nuanced. Someone thoughtful." A book of her selected poems is available from Bloodaxe in the UK, entitled American Blue.
George Packer takes the opposite approach in the , saying of Obama's inauguration, "Such grandeur would seem to call for poetry. But in fact the opposite is true...For many decades American poetry has been a private activity, written by few people and read by few people, lacking the language, rhythm, emotion, and thought that could move large numbers of people in large public settings." I think that this is a bizarre conclusion; poetry often seems most powerful when read aloud, when the sounds are given the chance to enchant people. It falls flat only when the poem is an empty piece of bombast - and this seems like the last thing Elizabeth Arnold would produce.
Comments