 Angelou recognized that although " On the Pulse of Morning " was a better " public poem " than a great poem , her goal of conveying the message of unity was accomplished . Poet David <unk> agreed , stating that although it fulfilled its theatrical and political objectives , the poem was " not very memorable " . Poet Sterling D. <unk> found Angelou 's performance " brilliant " , but was " not as enthusiastic about it as a text " . Burr stated that the negative reviews of Angelou 's poem , like the majority of the reviews about her other poetry , was due to their <unk> and narrow views of poetry , which were limited to written forms rather than spoken ones like " On the Pulse of Morning " , which was written to recite aloud and perform . Burr compared the response of literary critics to Angelou 's poem with critics of Frost 's poem : " Frost 's powerful reading served to supplement the poem in the sense of enhancing it , while Angelou 's powerful reading of her poem supplemented it in the sense of making evident its <unk> and lack . " 
