Maya Angelou's poem, written for the 1993 inauguration of Bill Clinton, instills hope by first impressing upon us the tragedies that humans have created and the pain that we have caused. She juxtaposes the names of different nationalities and tribes of people with the "mastodon and the dinosaur", and notes that, while whatever signaled their impending demise to the dinosaurs, the rock, the river, and the tree are still here, and so are we.
The poem then offers us the redemptive possibility of paying attention to the yearning in our own hearts: "there is a true yearning to respond to the singing river and the wise rock", and to the timeless majesty of the Earth itself- the rock, the river, the tree.
She does this by both being specific in naming those who have suffered and caused suffering, in an incantatory fashion, and by creating an earthly bridge to our shared humanity:
You, the Turk, the Swede, the German, the Scot ...
The Ashanti, the Yoruba, the Kru, bought,
Sold, stolen, arriving
On a nightmare, praying for a dream.
Here, root yourselves beside me.
I am the tree planted on a river
Which will not be moved.
The Earth here signifies a place to rest, a symbol of a reality that doesn't waver, which exists as a touchstone of sanity and grace.
Toward the end of the poem, she goes on to point to the horizon itself, on the brink of dawn, as a signal that hope is in that future we can only see by stepping toward it. That hope begins with a simple, hopeful gesture:
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.
She indicates that the Earth that is our home, simple gestures of humanity toward each other, and a willingness to look toward the future all can be sources of hope that guide us through difficulty.
"On the Pulse of Morning" is a long-form poem with no set rhythm. It was written for the inauguration of president Bill Clinton in 1993. Its goal is to look back into a darker past and bring us into a brighter future, buoyed by hope. Angelou tells her audience that learning from our past and working together with each other and with nature can help us to shape a better world in the years to come.
There are several ways that this speech instills hope in her audience. One of them is by using things in nature as a metaphor for the past and the world that exists around us. Using images like rocks, trees, and rivers, Angelou offers up hope that we have something strong and solid to stand on—but, she cautions, we cannot use these as things to hide behind.
But today, the Rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully, Come, you may stand upon my Back and face your distant destiny, But seek no haven in my shadow.
Hope is given to us by the fact that we have a solid foundation (the Rock) made from our past experiences to stand upon as we build a new, better world.
The speech also encourages the audience to cast fear aside, for "each new hour holds new chances for new beginnings." She says that joining together with people of all races and backgrounds makes us stronger and that great things can be accomplished if we learn from the past together. This gives us great power, which, in turn, inspires great hope.
https://owlcation.com/humanities/Analysis-of-Poem-On-the-Pulse-of-the-Morning-by-Maya-Angelou
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