17 pages • 34 minutes read
Ada LimónA New National Anthem
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“How to Triumph Like a Girl” by Ada Limón (2015)
This poem also appears in The Carrying (Milkweed Editions, 2018). Like “A New National Anthem,” it has a confessional voice, making use of the first person: “I like the lady horses best” (Line 1). The introspective speaker conjures a powerful image as she pictures herself with “an 8-pound female horse heart, / giant with power, heavy with blood” (Lines 12-13). It’s also another monostich poem—one of Limón’s favored forms.
“The Long Ride” by Ada Limón (2018)
This poem appears in Issue 4 of Underbelly Magazine. Unlike most literary magazines, Underbelly also publishes the first version of a poem alongside the revised final product. Each poet includes a brief essay about the revision process that took them from the first to the final draft. About her revision process, Limón writes: “In […] all my revisions, I am revising for sound, for lyricism, and musicality, rhythm.” Limón’s attention to the musical flow of a poem is also on display in “A New National Anthem.”
“Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude” by Ross Gay (2015)
Ross Gay and Ada Limón are both contemporary poets working in the Confessional tradition. Like “A New National Anthem,” this poem features long stanzas and a wide spectrum of emotions, including plenty of joy, as the title suggests. See “Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude” on SuperSummary.
“All the Difficult Hours and Minutes” by Jane Hirshfield (2008)
The speaker in this introspective poem compares the challenging times in life to “salted plums in a jar” (Line 2). Like “A New National Anthem,” this poem is imagistic and intimate. Hirschfield describes poetry as “an instrument of investigation and a mode of perception, a way of feeling both self and world […]” (“Jane Hirschfield.” Poetry Foundation.) Both Hirshfield and Limón are motivated by the wisdom they can unearth through writing poetry.
“The Star Market” by Marie Howe (2008)
The speaker of this poem goes to the market and sees “the people Jesus loved” (Line 1), meaning old and sick people. Like the Limón poem, this poem reinterprets foundational stories and beliefs in a contemporary context, indicting the speaker in the process.
Further Literary Resources
The Carrying by Ada Limón (Milkweed Editions, 2018)
The Carrying is Limón’s fifth book of poetry and the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award. “A New National Anthem” appears in the second part. The Carrying received high regard from critics, being named one of the best poetry collections of 2018 by writers for several major publications. For her list in the Washington Post, Elizabeth Lund writes: “Evocative dreams and pivotal memories help make this collection a powerful example of how to carry the things that define us without being broken by them” (“5 best poetry collections of 2018.” The Washington Post, 13 Nov. 2018).
“The Star-Spangled Banner” by Francis Scott Key (1814)
This resource from the Smithsonian Museum includes all four stanzas of Francis Scott Key’s poem, along with a high-quality scan of Key’s original 1814 manuscript. In “A New National Anthem,” Limón references a line in the third stanza (“no refuse could save the hireling and the slave”), noting how this stanza, though less often sung, is still part of the official anthem.
“Life of a Poet: Ada Limón” (2019)
Ron Charles, book critic at the Washington Post, interviews Ada Limón for the Life of a Poet series at the Library of Congress Hill Center in Washington, DC. Limón reads poems from The Carrying between conversations about craft.
Listen to Poem
Ada Limón gave her inaugural reading as the United States Poet Laureate at the Library of Congress on September 29, 2022. Her reading of “A New National Anthem” begins at 32:48.
Related Titles
By Ada Limón
