 According to Lupton , " On the Pulse of Morning " is Angelou 's most famous poem . Lupton has argued that " Angelou 's ultimate greatness will be attributed " to the poem , and that Angelou 's " theatrical " performance of it , using skills she learned as an actor and speaker , marked a return to the African @-@ American oral tradition of speakers such as Frederick Douglass , Martin Luther King , Jr. and Malcolm X. British reporter Kate <unk> compared Angelou 's appearance as she read the poem at Clinton 's inauguration with the eight @-@ year @-@ old child in Caged Bird , noting that the coats she wore in both occasions were similar : " She looked magnificent , <unk> theatrical with an <unk> bow mouth . She wore a coat with brass buttons , a strange reminder of the eight @-@ year @-@ old Maya Angelou who stood in a courtroom , <unk> at the sight of the man who had raped her " . Gillespie stated regarding <unk> 's observations : " But standing tall on the steps of the Capitol , she was light @-@ years removed from that terrible time , and America was no longer an ' <unk> place . ' Her poem ' On the Pulse of Morning ' was a soaring call for peace , justice , and harmony . <unk> the hope embodied in the human spirit , it was a solemn and joyful reminder that all things are possible . She wished us ' Good morning ' in her poem , and one felt as if a new day was truly <unk> . " 
