In english 12 we analyzed the poem Praise Song for the Day, a poem for Obama’s presidential inauguration.
The meaning of the poem is people who were oppressed in America’s past doing their tasks and accepting the fact that they had to do them for their society to function, that those people are clinging to the idea that hope is coming in the future and that they believe the hope is that Obama will help build that bridge to a better future.
The poem mentions that we should “praise song for walking forward in that light” (line 43) about how we should celebrate those people for fighting for their rights, and how “there’s something better down the road” (line 22) because of how it knows that the situation will improve for those oppressed but we need to keep searching.
The poem says we have “our ancestors on our tongues” (line 6) telling us that the past lives with us and how we still yet carry the ideals of the old world, but it also tells us that “in today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air, any thing can be made, any sentence begun (lines 40 and 41)” because with Obama becoming president we could create new ideals and change the old ones.