Poem/Inauguration

Overall, I thought the inauguration was interesting but long. I found out after that this was the most expensive inauguration in history by four times! I was shocked when I heard this information but it makes sense because a lot of famous celebrities performed at the event and millions of people had to be accommodated for. Also, the security must've cost a lot of money because the security needed to be extremely high. 

Aside from the price, the event ran very smoothly and with little to no flaws. Obama's speech was about 18 minutes and at fist I was shocked by this because I thought he had to memorize it. I found out later that he was simply reading from two prompter screens and was a little disappointed, but he's such a strong speaker that it didn't really matter if he memorized it. When it came time to swear Obama in to the presidency, he stumbled on the words because the man swearing him in mixed up the words. It was shocking at the time because I thought Obama was nervous and stumbled himself but it turns out he had the words correct.

I was pleasantly surprised by Elizabeth Alexander's poem. I enjoyed the style of her poem and the repetition also worked well. When she repeated words or phrases, it seemed to make her point stronger and made the poem flow easily. For example, she said "All about us is noise/all about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din." The phrases flow together smoothly and confirm her point that noise is all about us.

I also liked the diction in her poem, it made the poem more interesting and lively. For example, Alexander chooses the words "sharp sparkle" to describe winter, and I like this because it adds a flare to the poem. She also combines repetition with diction when she says "on the brink, on the brim, on the cusp," repetition being the same word in a different form. The diction, like "cusp," is also creative and entertaining.

I enjoyed the meaning or some ideas brought up in the poem. When she described the words or phrases some people live by, it made me really think about our country as a whole. She asked the question, "what if the mightiest word is love," and it made me really think about words and their meanings. I think Obama was smart when he chose Elizabeth Alexander to write the inauguration poem.