Eswyn Gray ‘23
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On Wednesday, January 20th--at President Biden’s Inauguration-- Amanda Gorman expressed the hopes, dreams, faults, and failures of America and its citizens in her poem, “The Hill we Climb.” Her captivating words and eloquent delivery moved the millions watching across the Nation.
Amanda Gorman is 22-years old, making her the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history. She provided the audience with a glimpse of who she is, her poem describing a “skinny Black girl/ descended from slaves and raised by a single mother/ can dream of being president one day/ only to find herself reciting for one.” Gorman nurtured a love of poetry from a young age and has been recognized for her talents. At 16, Gorman was named the Youth Poet Laureate of Los Angeles. Two years later, Amanda moved to Massachusetts to pursue her undergraduate education at Harvard University to study sociology. Her work earned her the designation as the first National Youth Poet Laureate. This title is now awarded annually to one young adult across the country who demonstrates excellent skill in poetry and/or spoken word.
Amanda Gorman was first asked to recite a poem at the inauguration in late December by Biden’s Inaugural Committee. She was informed that Dr. Jill Biden had attended a reading of hers at the Library of Congress and later proposed Gorman recite for the inauguration. Gorman wasn’t given any specific instructions or limitations for her piece. “They did not want to put up guardrails for me at all,” she told The New York Times. “The theme for the inauguration in its entirety is ‘America United,’ so when I heard that was their vision, that made it very easy for me to say, ‘Great, that’s also what I wanted to write about in my poem, about America united, about a new chapter in our country.” With that theme in mind, Amanda chose to focus her poem on unity, touching on the ways America is struggling with its ideals of democracy, and how we, as a country, can do better. Her words capture the polarizing forces and the political divisiveness of a nation during a moment in history when a new president is about to be inaugurated while citizens grapple with a pandemic, economic strife, political tensions, and the reckoning of racial injustice.
Gorman writes in "The Hill We Climb":
We've seen a force that would shatter our nation
rather than share it
Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy
And this effort very nearly succeeded
But while democracy can be periodically delayed
it can never be permanently defeated
In these few lines, Gorman alludes to the Capitol riot, which took place on January 6, 2021, just two weeks before the inauguration. Before this infamous day, Gorman admits to feeling overwhelmed and questioning how to finish her poem. But as the pro-Trump rioters stormed the walls, and inner chambers of congress, with violent intentions, and extremist viewpoints, Gorman found inspiration for the rest of her piece.
Amanda Gorman’s piece resonated with many Americans all over the country. Through the deep metaphors and effective literary elements at play, Amanda was able to capture the thoughts of many citizens in these trying times. She doubled down on the theme of unity, a common message during Biden’s presidential campaign, and a key concern in his inaugural address. Gorman weaved together words that acknowledged that the nation “isn’t broken, but simply unfinished.”
She paved a poetic path filled with fearless hope.
When day comes we step out of the shade
aflame and unafraid
the new
dawn blooms as we free it
For there is always light
if only we're/brave enough to see it
If only we're brave enough to be it.
In these final lines, Gorman returns to the “never-ending shade” she mentions in the poem’s opening lines. She informs us that to “step out of the shade” and find the “light,” we, as American citizens, must be courageous enough to bridge the divide that has split our nation. We must be brave enough to acknowledge that America is not yet perfect, but shall strive to form a better union, and together, be the light that carries America out of the darkness it is now facing.
A transcription of Amanda Gorman’s full inaugural poem, “The Hill we Climb,” is copied below:
When day comes, we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry. A sea we must wade.
We braved the belly of the beast.
We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace, and the norms and notions of what “just” is isn’t always justice.
And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it.
Somehow we do it.
Somehow we weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished.
We, the successors of a country and a time where a skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president, only to find herself reciting for one.
And, yes, we are far from polished, far from pristine, but that doesn’t mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect.
We are striving to forge our union with purpose.
To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man.
And so we lift our gaze, not to what stands between us, but what stands before us.
We close the divide because we know to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside.
We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another.
We seek harm to none and harmony for all.
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true.
That even as we grieved, we grew.
That even as we hurt, we hoped.
That even as we tired, we tried.
That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious.
Not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division.
Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid.
If we’re to live up to our own time, then victory won’t lie in the blade, but in all the bridges we’ve made.
That is the promise to glade, the hill we climb, if only we dare.
It’s because being American is more than a pride we inherit.
It’s the past we step into and how we repair it.
We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation, rather than share it.
Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy.
And this effort very nearly succeeded.
But while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated.
In this truth, in this faith we trust, for while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us.
This is the era of just redemption.
We feared at its inception.
We did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour.
But within it we found the power to author a new chapter, to offer hope and laughter to ourselves.
So, while once we asked, how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe, now we assert, how could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?
We will not march back to what was, but move to what shall be: a country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free.
We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation, become the future.
Our blunders become their burdens.
But one thing is certain.
If we merge mercy with might, and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change our children’s birthright.
So let us leave behind a country better than the one we were left.
Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest, we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.
We will rise from the golden hills of the West.
We will rise from the windswept Northeast where our forefathers first realized revolution.
We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the Midwestern states.
We will rise from the sun-baked South.
We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover.
And every known nook of our nation and every corner called our country, our people diverse and beautiful, will emerge battered and beautiful.
When day comes, we step out of the shade of flame and unafraid.
The new dawn balloons as we free it.
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it.
If only we’re brave enough to be it.
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