Elizabeth Alexander (1962- )

A selective list of online literary criticism on the African American poet Elizabeth Alexander, favoring signed scholarly articles and books, peer-reviewed sources, sources supervised by editors, and web sites that adhere to the MLA Guidelines for Web Sites.

main page | 20th-century literature | African American literature | 20th-century women writers

introduction

"Elizabeth Alexander." A brief introduction to Elizabeth Alexander, with links to poems: Blues, Haircut, Ladders, and Praise Song for the Day. Academy of American Poets.

"Elizabeth Alexander." Poetry Foundation. Ed. Catherine Halley. Good, encyclopedia-type introduction to Elizabeth Alexander's themes and techniques, with a biography and samples of her poems.

Elizabeth Alexander's Web Site. Contents: Books, Interviews, Poems, Teaching, Reviews, Audio and Video, News, Events.

Rumens, Carol. "Elizabeth Alexander's praise poem was way too prosy." (UK) Guardian, 21 January 2009.

"Praise Song for the Day" is transcribed with line and stanza breaks, as intended by Alexander, at poet Mark Doty's blog. Doty writes, "Earlier today, the Times and other sources posted transcripts of Elizabeth Alexander's beautiful inaugural poem, but I hadn't till just now seen it with its lines and stanzas as the poet intended them. It's a fine example of the way a well-placed line and a shapely stanza energizes and formalizes plain speech; the formal choices here emphasize the clarity, dignity and grace of Alexander's language."

"Praise Song for the Day: A Poem for Barack Obama's Presidential Inauguration." Presented correctly with line and stanza breaks, from the Academy of American Poets.

"Poet Elizabeth Alexander Reflects on Inaugural Reading." Transcript of interview with Alexander. Newshour on PBS, 13 Jan. 2009.

main page | 20th-century literature | African American literature | 20th-century women writers

1998-2011 by Jan Pridmore