Elizabeth Alexander
About Elizabeth Alexander
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Reading, Power, and Freedom
Mellon Foundation President Dr. Elizabeth Alexander led a conversation about the power of unfettered reading, and how we might mitigate...
How art influences leadership
How Elizabeth Alexander, poet and president of the Mellon Foundation, uses her arts background to inform leadership.
Acclaimed poet Elizabeth Alexander '84 to speak at Class Day
Alexander, a decorated poet, educator, memoirist, scholar, and cultural advocate who was a professor at Yale for 15 years, will deliver the...
Books by Elizabeth Alexander
“Ficre Ghebreyesus: City With A River Running Through” (2019)
Ficre Ghebreyesus: City With A River Running Through
“Crave Radiance: New And Selected Poems 1990-2010” (2010)
Over Twenty Years, Elizabeth Alexander Has Become One Of America's Most Exciting And Important Poets. This First Career Retrospective Gathers Generous Selections From Alexander's Previous Work, Along With Twenty Pages Of New Poetry, Including Her Poem Praise Song For The Day, Delivered At Barack Obama's Presidential Inauguration. The Result Is The Definitive Volume To Date By This Quintessential American Poet. From The Venus Hottentot (1990). The Venus Hottentot -- West Indian Primer -- Ladders -- Zodiac -- The Dirt-eaters -- House Party Sonnet: '66 -- Nineteen -- Omni-albert Murray -- Robeson At Rutgers -- Van Der Zee -- Bearden -- Deadwood Dick -- Painting -- Monet At Giverny -- Farewell To You -- Penmanship -- Letter: Blues -- Boston Year -- A Poem For Nelson Mandela -- Today's News. From Body Of Life (1996). Stravinsky In L.a. -- The Josephine Baker Museum -- Yolande Speaks -- Fugue -- The Texas Prophet -- Talk Radio, D.c. -- Passage -- Summertime -- Washington étude -- Apollo -- What I'm Telling You -- Butter -- Compass -- Frank Willis -- Family Stone -- Six Yellow Stanzas -- Blues -- Affirmative Action Blues -- Haircut -- Judge Gets Grandma To Whip Offender -- For Miriam -- L.a. By Night -- Harlem Birthday Party -- Body Of Life -- Blues -- At The Beach -- Cleaning Out Your Apartment -- Tending -- Leaving -- After. From Antebellum Dream Book (2001). Fugue -- Elegy -- Overture: Watermelon City -- Early Cinema -- Visitor -- Geraniums -- Islands Number Four -- Nat Turner Dreams Of Insurrection -- Race -- Baby -- Crash -- The Toni Morrison Dreams -- The Female Seer Will Burn Upon This Pyre -- War -- Peccant -- Opiate -- After The Gig: Mick Jagger -- Postpartum Dream #8 -- Postpartum Dream #12: Appointment -- The Party -- Orange -- Visitation -- Feminist Poem Number One -- Gift -- Narrative: Ali -- Neonatology. From American Sublime (2005). Emancipation -- Smile -- Tina Green -- When -- Five Elegies -- Stray -- Fried Apples -- The Dream That I Told My Mother-in-law -- Black Poets Talk About The Dead -- The African Picnic -- Autumn Passage -- Ars Poetica #1,002: Rally -- Ars Poetica #17: First Afro-american Esperantist -- Ars Poetica #28: African Leave-taking Disorder -- Ars Poetica #whassup G? -- Ars Poetica #21: Graduate Study Of Literature -- Ars Poetica #92: Marcus Garvey On Elocution -- Ars Poetica #56: Bullfrogs Was Falling Out Of The Sky -- Ars Poetica #16: Lot -- Ars Poetica #100: I Believe -- Ars Poetica #88: Sublime -- Amistad. Amistad -- The Blue Whale -- Absence -- Boy Haiku -- Poro Society -- Approach -- Connecticut -- Other Cargo -- Education -- The Yale Men -- Teacher -- Translator -- Physiognomy -- Constitutional -- Mende Vocabulary -- The Girls -- Kere's Song -- Judge Judson -- In Cursive -- God -- Waiting For Cinque To Speak -- The Amistad Trail -- Cinque Redux -- The Last Quatrain -- American Sublime -- Tanner's Annunciation. From Miss Crandall's School For Young Ladies And Little Misses Of Color (2007). Knowledge -- Good-bye -- Study -- We -- Lawyers -- Allegiance -- Water -- Hunger -- Call And Response -- Cat -- End -- Julia Williams. New Poems. Luck -- In D.c. -- The Black Woman Speaks -- Dream Book -- Toomer -- In The Aquarium -- Bottle Tree -- Hayden In The Archive -- Poised -- Stokely And Adam -- In The Fema Trailers -- Rally -- Praise Song For The Day -- The Elders -- One Week Later In The Strange. Elizabeth Alexander. Includes Bibliographical References.
“Praise Song For The Day: A Poem For Barack Obama's Presidential Inauguration January 20, 2009” (2009)
Praise Song For The Day: A Poem For Barack Obama's Presidential Inauguration January 20, 2009
“Miss Crandall's School for Young Ladies & Little Misses of Color” (2007)
Two renowned poets tell the story of Prudence Crandall and her black students, who endured the cruelty of prejudice and hateful actions for the sake of their education. Miss Crandall faced legal proceedings for opening her school of African American women. But her young students knew that Miss Crandall had committed no crime. They knew that the real criminals were the rich white residents of Canterbury, Connecticut, who had poisoned the school's water and set fire to the schoolhouse. But hatred could not destroy their patience and compassion. From March of 1833 to September of 1834, when persecution forced the school to close, these African American women learned that they deserved an education. What they needed was the courage to go after it. Poets Elizabeth Alexander and Marilyn Nelson have re-created the remarkable story of Prudence Crandall's school in this ALA Notable Children's Book, using the sonnet form with innovative style. Floyd Cooper's powerful illustrations reveal the strength and vulnerability of Miss Crandall and her students.
“The Venus Hottentot: Poems” (2004)
Originally published in 1990 to widespread acclaim, The Venus Hottentot introduces Elizabeth Alexander's vital poetic voice, distinguished even in this remarkable first book by its examination of history, gender, and race with an uncommon clarity and music. These poems range from personal memory to cultural history to human personae: John Coltrane, Frida Kahlo, Nelson Mandela, and "The Venus Hottentot," a nineteenth-century African woman who was made into a carnival sideshow exhibit.
At a glanceElizabeth Alexander
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