Description
American poetry took a cultural shift when it instituted the Consultant in Poetry position (1937), which was later revised to the title of U.S. Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry (1985). Under the position, poets were selected to write "occasional poems," poems written specifically for national occasions. Starting with Robert Frost, five poets (Robert Frost, Maya Angelou, Miller Williams, Elizabeth Alexander, and Richard Blanco) were asked by U.S. presidents (John F. Kennedy, William Clinton, and Barak Obama) to recite poems at their presidential inauguration ceremonies, quickly establishing a general understanding of poetry to the public. However, Robert Lowell and Frank Bidart challenged such dominant power structures by publishing their own inaugural poems (without being sponsored by a president) and did not participate in the traditional inaugural ceremony. The perception of the "acceptable" poet was further provoked when New Jersey's former poet laureate, Amiri Baraka, read his poem "Somebody Blew Up America" in response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. His controversial response was non-traditional and challenged normative ideologies. My thesis not only examines the public spaces established for poetry responding to national events, but it also considers what kind of language is deemed appropriate in the poetic sphere. Similar to the inaugural poets, government-sponsored poetry written by U.S. Poets Laureate in response to 9/11 follows a rigid script. The latter half of my argument juxtaposes the poets laureate with independent poets that submitted their works to online journals, magazines, and various anthologies. Therefore, I argue that authentic responses to presidential inaugurations and national traumas (ones that challenge normative ideals) do not reaffirm what we already know (that war is bad and love is good) while government-sponsored works often possess didactic undertones
