She said that she sought to use the poem as an opportunity to call for 'unity and collaboration and togetherness.' Content She practiced the poem repeatedly before delivering it. Gorman, who had a speech impediment as a child, was twenty-two years old when she read the poem, making her the youngest poet to read at a presidential inauguration. Gorman finished the poem on the night of January 6. In an interview with CBS News, she said that the storming marked 'the day that the poem really came to life' as she worked the events into it. Gorman told The New York Times that she had been struggling to complete the poem and worrying about whether it would be adequate. Gorman wrote several lines a day, and had the poem around half completed when the storming of the United States Capitol occurred on January 6. She was informed of her selection on December 30, 2020, and asked to write a poem that contributed to the inauguration's overall theme of 'America United', but without any other direction. In December 2020, Joe Biden's wife, Jill Biden, asked Gorman to deliver a poem at the inauguration. Gorman also spoke with Richard Blanco and Elizabeth Alexander, two previous inaugural poets.

She also studied famous orators such as Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King Jr., and Winston Churchill. Gorman said that she began to write the poem by reviewing poems written by past inaugural poets, who have included Robert Frost and Maya Angelou. On January 14, 2021, the Inaugural Committee, which was organizing the inauguration of Joe Biden in Washington, D.C., announced that Gorman would be giving a poetry reading at the event on January 20. In 2017, aged 19, she was named the first National Youth Poet Laureate. Gorman drew large amounts of attention, particularly on social media, after the poem's recitation and two upcoming books by Gorman topped best seller lists.Īmanda Gorman is an American poet from Los Angeles, California. Many felt that the poem represented a call for unity and would remain relevant beyond the inauguration.

Critics generally considered the recitation one of the highlights of the inauguration. 'The Hill We Climb' was widely praised for its message, phrasing, and delivery. The poem was written to call for 'unity and collaboration and togetherness' among the American people and emphasize the opportunity that the future holds. Gorman was twenty-two years old when she recited the poem, making her the youngest inaugural poet ever. The poem was written in the weeks following the 2020 United States presidential election, with significant passages written on the night of January 6, 2021, in response to the storming of the United States Capitol. ' The Hill We Climb' is a spoken word poem written by American poet Amanda Gorman and recited by her at the inauguration of Joe Biden in Washington, D.C. Gorman reciting 'The Hill We Climb' at Joe Biden's inauguration

Amanda gorman the hill we climb