The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman - Poem Analysis (2024)

From the beginning to the end of the poem, Gorman uses images of light and darkness, hope and fear, to describe the two opposing sides of America, those who want to divide and those who want to unify. Her image of the country is not one that’s defeated or failed but one that’s still on its way to being what its rhetoric already suggests it is. She seeks to inspire hope in those listening that a better day is dawning and that better times are ahead. In the concluding sections, the poet asks that “we,” American citizens and anyone listening to her read, be brave enough to “see” and “be” the light/hope that’s coming.

In ‘The Hill We Climb,’ the poet engages with themes of the future and past, as well as hope. The latter is the primary theme at the heart of the poem and what she wants readers and listeners to walk away from the piece feeling. She returns several times to the image of light/darkness and how America is stepping out of the “shade” and turning towards the light. She’s careful to remind the reader that this isn’t an easy path, things don’t change overnight. But, if one reaches out, puts down their arms, and allows the beauty of the country to come through, then the future is going to be a far better one than it could’ve been.

In addition to being historically important for all Americans, Gorman’s poem had a literary significance that’s also noteworthy. She is the second he has in the past cited Maya Angelou as one of her primary inspirations, something that’s made even more meaningful by the fact that Angelou was the first Black and first female poet to read at a presidential inauguration. Gorman even wore a small ring decorated with a birdcage to commemorate Angelou’s well-loved‘Caged Bird.’

The speaker in‘The Hill We Climb’is Gorman herself. She references herself a few times in the text, as well as her upbringing, goals, and her family. She refers to herself as a “skinny Black girl descended from slaves” and celebrates the fact that because of the way the tide has changed so far in regard to race in the United States that she is able to recite a poem for the President of the United States.

The setting of‘The Hill We Climb’is the exact moment in which Gorman is reading it. She is standing at the inauguration ceremony of the 46th president of the United States, Joe Biden, talking about herself standing there reading a poem. More broadly, Gorman speaks about her location in the United States among a diverse population and in the middle of an incredibly important historic moment. In her poem, Gorman is celebrating the fact that the country made it through this period and now has the opportunity to right itself.

Anaphora is a type of repetition that occurs when the poet uses the same word or words at the beginning of multiple lines of text. For example, “Somehow” in lines twelve and thirteen as well as “That even as we” thirty-seven through thirty-nine.

The next lines allude to Gorman herself as a “skinny Black girl / descended from slaves and raised by a single mother.” She concludes this phrase by describing herself in that very moment—reciting a poem she wrote for a president.

The poet asks everyone listening who supports the newly inaugurated president and those who do not, to “lay down our arms / so we can reach out our arms.” By using “arms” to describe weapons and one’s physical arms, she’s attempting to draw in the divide between these two sides. In this phrase, “we tried / That we’ll forever be tied together,” the poet is again alluding to the difficulties of the previous year and the suffering, physical, mental, and emotional, and how it should bring everyone who suffered together.

No one is going to turn on their neighbor and that will mean that America will stay strong and true to its ideals. It’s in the next lines that the poet alludes to a very recent event in the historical context of this poem, the storming of the Capitol in Washington D.C. on January 6th, an armed insurrection committed by supporters of then-President Trump. Gorman described finishing this poem the day after that event and used it to help fuel these concluding lines. She writes that “We,” the American people, have seen a “force that would shatter our nation / rather than share it.” The effort, and the efforts of those who supported the insurrection in the media and in the Congress, nearly succeeded, she adds. But the “democracy” was not “permanently defeated.”

In the next lines, she uses repetition to suggest that this time in America’s history is going to be one that is of the utmost importance. History has its “eyes on us,” she says. The “new hour” she speaks about has risen out of the darkness of recent years, carried in by activists, artists, and young people. These groups, along with many others, helped to defeat President Trump and elect President Biden. Now the new chapter brings hope to the future days this country is going to live through. She asks rhetorical questions that suggest that there was no way that “catastrophe” was ever going to prevail over the country.

In the final lines of the poem, Gorman uses more instances of repetition in order to talk her way around the country, from the “gold-limbed hills of the west” to the “windswept northeast.” In all these places, and more, she concludes, the country will “rebuild, reconcile and recover.” The people of the country, “diverse and beautiful,” will rise up and be at the forefront of the future. The poem ends with one of the most memorable phrases, insuring those listening to be “brave enough” to “see” and “be” the light that the country needs in this new dawn.

‘The Hill We Climb’ by Amanda Gorman is a 110-line poem that does not follow a specific rhyme scheme or metrical pattern. The poem is written in free verse but that doesn’t mean that it is entirely without rhyme or rhythm. In fact, this poem is defined by its use of rhyme almost as much as it is by its content and historical context. For example, “shade” and “wade” in lines one and three as well as “beast” and “peace” in the following two lines. There are also examples of half-rhymes. For instance, “trust” and “us” in lines sixty-two and sixty-four.

The hill is at the heart of Gorman’s inaugural poem. It features in the title and is part of every line she recited at Joe Biden’s inauguration. It symbolizes the hill that the United States is currently climbing, socially and politically, and how far the country still has to go before it reaches the top of the hill. ‘The Hill We Climb’mentions,as other inaugural poems have described before hers, that America is not a perfect country. It might arrive there eventually, but for now, everyone has to work together to ensure the country gets where it needs to be–a place of harmony where all people are valued and taken care of.

Although perhaps out of reach in the contemporary moment, unity is the final goal that‘The Hill We Climb’advocates for. Eventually, Gorman suggests, America will be able to come together as one people. Different races and religions will be accepted and celebrated for their individuality rather than singled out for it.

She depicts the American people as the light and the hope of the future. If everyone listening to her read‘The Hill We Climb,’and all those who aren’t can address their differences.

You can also read some of the best poems about hope too.