The Hill that we climb: Amanda Gorman at the Inauguration

 

Amanda Gorman, by common consent, stole the Inauguration show with her poem: The Hill that we climb. But let’s be clear, this was not some whimsical performance, a little girl singing tomorrow from Annie to charm the grownups. These were powerful words, powerfully delivered, whose emotional force was enhanced by, although not reliant on, the relentless onrushing speed of her speech. So what did she say, and how did she use language to connect to those listening?

Firstly, it should be said, Gorman stood on the shoulders of the African-American oral tradition. Even I, as a middle-aged white male, could recognise that, whilst it was not a rap, it borrowed from that forms use of rhythms, rhymes, repetition and variation on a theme to generate momentum.

Secondly, she clearly displayed the heritage of some-one familiar with the bible and with preaching style. ‘We’ve braved the belly of the beast’, an early reference to Jonah that set the tone. The poem is steeped in King James version phraseology; from ‘and so we lift our gazes’ a clear nod to the psalms ‘I shall lift up mine eyes to the hills’ to the explicit reference ‘Scripture tells us to envision that every-one will sit beneath their own vine and fig tree and no-one shall make them afraid’, Amanda gives her poem a biblical authenticity.

Thirdly, Miss Gorman demonstrated her mastery of literary techniques to grab our attention. She is rightly unafraid to use rhyme in a poem that people were initially going to hear rather than read:

‘where can we find light in this never-ending shade, the loss we carry, a sea we must wade’

 ‘because we will never again sow division. Scripture tells us to envision………..’,

‘victory won’t lie in the blade, but in all the bridges we’ve made’

The power of rhyme in the spoken word is another strength of rap, as is alliteration, which Miss Gorman sometimes wields like a weapon:

‘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’.

And sometimes like a call to arms:

‘to compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters, and conditions of man’.

Where she and the poem really take flight is with her mastery of techniques such as inversion and opposition to sculpt memorable phrases:

‘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’

Just read that line again. See how ‘march’ and ‘move’ are connected by alliteration, yet separated by meaning, the one redolent of bellicosity, the second of possibility. This poet takes a delight in language. This can be seen in her supple, subtle phrasings:

‘That even as we tired, we tried’.

‘the norms and notions of what “just” is isn’t always justice.’

That last line delivers it’s meaning to the ear by a subtle shift in the s sound, to sell a powerful political statement. Because this is a political poem that confronts the realities of January 6^th and offers a way to rise above and move beyond them. Its message is rooted in religion without labouring it and it delineates what is going on and asks the question, ‘which side are you on?’ without giving in to negativity. The unity message that President Biden is pushing is re-inforced at the end using history and geography. Gorman uses the compass to encompass the whole nation in her description, name-checks the revolution and echoes one of her poetical predecessors, Woody Guthrie, in doing so embracing a tradition beyond the African-American one and telling her audience, all our stories matter. In ‘This land is our land’ Guthrie surveys the continent:

“This land is your land, this land is our land, from California, to the New York Island,

From the Redwood forests, to the Gulf stream Waters, this land belongs to you and me’.

Compare Miss Gorman’s lines:

‘We will rise from the golden hills of the west.
We will rise from the wind-swept north-east 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.’

and see she has picked up the baton and run with it. Only a National poet could end with:

‘In every known nook of our nation, in every corner called our country,
our people, diverse and beautiful, will emerge, battered and beautiful……..’

‘When day comes, we step out of the shade, aflame and unafraid’.

Lines which manage to simultaneously affirm an almost religious message of hope whilst firmly rejecting the chaos that has so recently erupted. Comparisons have already been made with Maya Angelou. If Amanda Gorman fulfils her potential she may, in a future interview, critique her own work and perhaps call it youthfully naïve, poetically clunky and over-earnest. But for now, at this moment in our time, let’s celebrate it. 

Follow the link to see and hear wonderful performance: 

Amanda Gorman: The hill that we climb