On the Pulse of Morning

“On the Pulse of Morning” has two main concerns: looking to the future and acknowledging the past. Though it attempts to do both things, the poem’s main focus is the future. This makes sense given the poem was written for the specific purpose of a political event that is dedicated to the inauguration of a new president, but even though the poem fits the positive, hopeful narrative of change, Angelou is able to convey a sense of reflection and critique. This makes the poem a little more nuanced than what one might expect during such an event. It also distinguishes the poem thematically from Frost’s 1961 poem, and sets the tone for inaugural poems to follow, including Amanda Gorman’s “The Hill we Climb” (2021), performed during Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration (see: Further Reading & Resources). In this way, “On the Pulse of Morning” serves as a link between Frost and Gorman, landing exactly 30 years between the two readings.

Starting with the past, Angelou opens the poem by taking the reader back to the very beginning, all the way back to the dinosaurs. She establishes a connection between the past and the present by linking the two times with the connected image of the rock. The rock is representative of both rocks that contain fossils and the earth itself. Angelou starts the poem from the perspective of the rock, saying that within its depths lies the remains of the mastodon and the dinosaur, but their lives, experiences, and ultimate doom are forever trapped and erased within the rock because of the passage of time. This opening serves almost as a warning, as the rock then tells the reader that they cannot rely on the rocks and the caves and the deep places of the earth for shelter from the struggles of today, lest one becomes as forgotten as the dinosaurs. Instead, the rock implores the reader to stand upon its face and face the future. The earth will not give the reader a hiding place. Hiding from what is to come will only lead to the same fate as the dinosaurs: eradication.

In opening this way, Angelou utilizes a spiritual tone and structure, which she based on the history of African spirituals she heard as a child. She personifies the rock and then speaks from its voice. The transition to this reads like a myth passed down through oral tradition, where there is a clear narrator who seamlessly transitions from one voice to another. She does this in the second stanza, where the speaker says, “But today, the Rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully, / Come, you may stand upon my / Back and face your distant destiny” (Lines 9-11). She continues the dialogue from the rock for several lines until transitioning back to the narrator’s voice with, “Armed for slaughter, / The Rock cries out to us today, you may stand upon me, / But do not hide your face” (Lines 20-22). These fluid transitions from one voice to another give the poem a narrative feel, and the personification of natural objects adds to the poem’s mythic quality.

Angelou continues this structure in the next part of the poem where the voice of the river emerges. The poem jumps between time and space: “Across the wall of the world, / A River sings a beautiful song. It says, / Come, rest here by my side” (Lines 23-25). Whereas the rock delivers a strong sermon about courage and facing the future, the river offers peace, serenity, and rest. Here Angelou places the two objects in archetypical roles as father and mother. The rock pushes the reader to be strong and stand tall, while the river offers comfort and wisdom. Whereas the rock offered blunt warnings about death and extinction, the river provides subtle critiques about past mistakes. The river speaks of injustices like war, waste, and pollution. In this way, the river recalls the rivers in Langston Hughes’s poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” (1921). In that poem, the river is also personified as it tracks the journey of Black people throughout history, speaking of various successes and injustices of the past. Here, Angelou echoes that personification and lesson, referencing a time before human-made injustice: “Before cynicism was a bloody sear across your / Brow and when you yet knew you still / Knew nothing” (Lines 37-39). In this time, the river, the rock, and the tree stood together as one natural force and life was peaceful and harmonious. The river is something that connects us and transcends us, as evidenced by the line “The River sang and sings on” (Line 40). Just like Hughes’s rivers, this river tells the story of humanity's woes while signaling a journey that is yet to complete. The river has flowed and will continue to flow; the reader must decide to heed its lessons.

In the next short stanza, Angelou employs another device common to oral myths: she uses repetition and a list. But unlike what one might read in an ancient text like The Bible or a Greek myth, where the names of great kings or lineages are listed, Angelou here runs through several races, faiths, professions, and orientations. This gives the poem a distinctly American and modern feel as she highlights the concept of the American "melting pot." But she also focuses on giving equal ground to all people, demonstrating her concern with unification and equality. She gives equal footing to “The Gay, the Straight, the Preacher, / The privileged, the homeless” (Lines 47-48), signaling her commitment to abolishing hierarchies and establishing a just society. All these people, regardless of their labels, desire the same thing: “a yearning to respond to / The singing River and the wise Rock” (Lines 41-42), or a yearning for peace, harmony, and courage.

The second half of the poem moves into the two images of the tree and the horizon. The tree speaks of roots, validating all people, and telling them that they have “been paid for” (Line 55). Here, Angelou focuses specifically on those who have experienced injustice and oppression throughout American history. Angelou acknowledges the greed that led to oppression and slaughter, saying that now is the time to move past those things and understand that no more sacrifice is required. She pays special attention to “the Ashanti, the Yoruba, the Kru” (Line 64), West African people who were stolen from their homes and forced into slavery. She tells them that “I am yours–your passages have been paid” (Line 71). And here, she gets to the real crux of the poem–where past and present meet: “History, despite its wrenching pain / Cannot be unlived, but if faced / With courage, need not be lived again” (Lines 74-76). This is the message Angelou hopes to convey through the poem, and it is the message of the entire inauguration: that history is real, that the nation can learn from it, and that it can move forward to a better tomorrow.

Angelou reinforces this message in the last two stanzas of the poem, which are dedicated to the horizon. She says, “The horizon leans forward, / Offering you space to place new steps of change” (Lines 93-94). However, America will only capture this new, hopeful horizon if its people have the courage to lean into the pulse of the new day and welcome each other with the words “Good morning” (Line 108). She closes the poem with a call to embrace the future together.