Inaugural Poet Amanda Gorman gestures while reading her poem “The Hill We Climb” at the 2021 presidential inauguration. The events spurred her to finish the poem late that night, with several news lines alluding to what had transpired. As reported by The New York Times, Gorman had completed about half of the poem when the January 6 events unfolded at the U.S. Gorman, as befitting a Harvard alumna, conducted preliminary research by reading the poems of previous inaugural poets (and talking to two of them, Richard Blanco and Elizabeth Alexander) and studying speeches of famous orators such as Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Winston Churchill. Gorman’s performance was one of the rare times in contemporary American society when poetry took center stage across the nation, and Gorman used the opportunity to deliver, as she described in an interview with Anderson Cooper, a “message of hope, unity, and healing.”Ĭomposing the poem on such short notice-she was invited to serve as inaugural poet in late December-and during such challenging times, was no small task. You can watch a video of Gorman’s recitation below: Her inaugural poem, “ The Hill We Climb,” captured viewers across the country, and made her an overnight literary sensation. Gorman, 22, became the 6th and youngest poet to recite a poem at a presidential inauguration. If you didn’t know who Amanda Gorman was before Wednesday, you do now. “For there is always light”: Amanda Gorman’s Inaugural Poem “The Hill We Climb” Delivers Message of Unity

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