"a country that is bruised but whole": The description of the country as "bruised" imbues it with the human quality of skin, a surface that can be bruised. 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.Weve braved the belly of the beast,Weve learned that quiet isnt always peace,and the norms and notionsof what just isisnt always just-ice.And yet the dawn is oursbefore we knew it.Somehow we do it.Somehow weve weathered and witnesseda nation that isnt broken,but simply unfinished.We the successors of a country and a timewhere a skinny Black girldescended from slaves and raised by a single mothercan dream of becoming presidentonly to find herself reciting for one.And yes we are far from polished.Far from pristine.But that doesnt mean we arestriving to form a union that is perfect.We are striving to forge a union with purpose,to compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters andconditions of man.And so we lift our gazes 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 armsso we can reach out our armsto 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 well 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 envisionthat everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig treeand no one shall make them afraid.If were to live up to our own time,then victory wont lie in the blade.But in all the bridges weve made,that is the promise to glade,the hill we climb.If only we dare.Its because being American is more than a pride we inherit,its the past we step intoand how we repair it.Weve seen a force that would shatter our nationrather 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 redemptionwe feared at its inception.We did not feel prepared to be the heirsof such a terrifying hourbut within it we found the powerto 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 aroundor interrupted by intimidation,because we know our inaction and inertiawill be the inheritance of the next generation.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 childrens birthright.So let us leave behind a countrybetter than the one we were left with.Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest,we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.We will rise from the gold-limbed 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 sunbaked south.We will rebuild, reconcile and recover.And every known nook of our nation andevery 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,the new dawn blooms as we free it.For there is always light,if only were brave enough to see it.If only were brave enough to be it. The delayed/defeated phrasing and the general cadence reminded me of the legal maxim Justice delayed is justice denied. "weathered and witnessed": "w" sounds The former sociology concentrator is the U.S.'s first youth poet laureate. And this effort very nearly succeeded. So many of the devices Gorman has shown us so far, she showcases simultaneously in this sequence. And so, we lift our gazes not to what stands between us, but what stands before us. Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds; paromoiosis is a little more complex, the repetition of sounds between words of adjacent or parallel clauses or lines. The following line, and this effort very nearly succeeded, is almost jarring in its simplicity, lack of rhetoricity, and lack of lyrical connection to what precedes. Take, for example, her reference in the first stanza to the belly of the beast. The beginning and end of the poem contain references to dawn and light after a period of darkness. There is auxesis, in that it will build to the climactic idea of every known nook of our nation and every corner called country; there is taxis in that it considers each region as a component of the whole. Chiasmus is, as Ive noted elsewhere, a device which ties a knot, repeating either ideas or grammatical construction in A-B-B-A order. As much as I love rhetoric, that dopamine/endorphin/adrenaline rush doesnt happen every time. In this, she presents her central concern: how do we move forward now, at this moment in time, from a past that has often been so dark? [ETA March 2021: My page statistics suggest that a lot of readers may be finding this article through searches theyre doing for school. A sea, after all, is not something you wade across. "The Hill We Climb" was first performed by Amanda Gorman on January 20, 2021, at the inauguration of President Joe Biden. ok so there is a couple that I found you will have to find the las one That shouldn't be too hard. The following lines are useful to quote to lift up the morale of the soldiers or political workers. Paromoiosis links power to hour, and she does one of my favorite things for a writer to do when she makes a metaphor about writing in author a new chapter. "blade," "made," and "glade": assonance of "ade" sound These lines powerfully sum up the entire message of the poem, urging change for the future. Read the Study Guide for The Hill We Climb, View the lesson plan for The Hill We Climb, View Wikipedia Entries for The Hill We Climb. Again, kairos is important. 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. Poem Analysis, https://poemanalysis.com/amanda-gorman/the-hill-we-climb/. Just is and justice are nearly sound-alikes, and Gorman links them by placing them in parallel position to each other (at the end of the lines and as balancing figures within the chiasmus) as well as through antisthecon, a device which substitutes a sound within a word. Different races and religions will be accepted and celebrated for their individuality rather than singled out for it. Every once in a while, the language is just so gorgeous that I swoon. Though Gorman never names the insurrection or those who participated in it or prompted it, everyone watching knew exactly what she meant by a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it. It lands in a way that echoes the confident optimism that courses through this whole poem. Do you think its possible for you to annotate the figurative language in The Secretary Chant by Marge Piercy? Id love to hear how its been useful for you and your pedagogy. Copyright 2023 Literary Devices. Build vocabulary, practice pronunciation, and more with Transparent Language Online. A sea we must wade also has conceptual curiosity inside it. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window), Elsewhere for January 30, 2021 - Floccinaucical, https://bookshop.org/a/1552/9780520273689, https://bookshop.org/a/1552/9781567925524, https://bookshop.org/a/1552/9780879103453. Amanda Gorman is known around the world for her highly relevant contemporary verse. The United States isnt broken / but simply unfinished. This simple phrase is at the heart of Gormans poem. From Cicero: Lust conquered shame; audacity, fear; madness, reason. The verb conquered is omitted from the subsequent occurrences. My sense for why you cant quite unpack why [you] feel that we weather and witness a nation in different senses is because to weather something is active with a negative connotation, while to witness something is passive with a neutral connotation. Occasionally, the poem will use the "I" pronoun, but the majority of the poem does not distinguish, and uses "we" and "our" to rally the audience into a feeling of collectiveness. She sees a nation that isn't broken beyond repair. "The Hill We Climb" (2021) is a spoken word poem by Amanda Gorman, who wrote the poem for and performed it at the 2021 inauguration of United States President Joe Biden, becoming the youngest poet to be given this honor. Major Themes in "The Hill We Climb": Equality, optimism, and the will to bring reformation are three major thematic strands of the poem "The Hill We Climb." The poet is of the view that they have achieved greatness as Americans, yet they have not reached the pinnacles of equality, prosperity, and freedom that they should have surmounted. This is one of the places where I just about swooned. With the title, "climb" is in the present tense, indicating an ongoing struggle to overcome the "hill" of challenges. We get a little bit of hyperbaton, syntactical disorder, a device common in Shakespeare but less so in modern English, as the usual phrase would be well be tied together forever, but Gorman moves forever up, which better balances the aural quality of the line, I think. The we [verb] structure continues, as it has throughout the poem, in we will not march, and we have more antithesis between march back/move to and what was/what shall be. But we can put in the work (and forge is such a great word there, invoking a craft that is so physical a labor) to create a society that has been purposefully constructed. Richard IIs deposition. That active/passive thing might get us a step closer to really thinking about it as syllepsis that device requires the *governing* word to be understood differently, so nation is what wed have to look at having multiple meanings or understandings, and that active/passive relationship might be part of it. In case you somehow missed it, please watch National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman deliver The Hill We Climb as the inaugural poem for Joe Biden. Somehow, we do it. Anyway here, a nation is the object attached to both the verbs weathered and witnessed. Gorman uses passages to depict America stepping out of the dark and into the light. But while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated. The past/present/future progression continues in the next stanza, as Gorman imagines us not only receiving the past (a pride we inherit) but also participating in it (the past we step into). A foreword is a brief piece of writing that appears at the beginning of a book or a longer short story, that is usually written by someone other than the author. Screen capture by author bideninaugural.org. Now the new chapter brings hope to the future days this country is going to live through. St. Peter's Church: Fun experience climbing for a great view! In the next lines, the speaker says that America and Americans will overcome their differences and be victorious not because they will never again know defeat but because they will never again sow division. They would not, in this scenario, be defeated in their unity. Here, I think we see a bit of both. Scott Kaisers Shakespeares Wordcraft (https://bookshop.org/a/1552/9780879103453) doesnt use the Greek terms but is a wonderful categorization of devices with lots of examples. Zeugma carries the force down from the antithesis of shatter/share into the next line, would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy. When day comes, we step out of the shade aflame and unafraid. comparing feminism in the time of Virginia Woolf and today. Light takes on the traditional symbol of hope, a new day, and peace while dark symbolizes suffering and the mistakes of the past. The reference to the "globe" refers to the other countries of the world. Its not enough to see the light; we must be it. Wading is something done slowly, your leg muscles pumping against the water and perhaps the undertow but it is not something you can do if you are, say, drowning. If youre in search of other rhetorical resources, Ive recommended some of my favorites down in the comments. Again, Gorman stresses that difference between a perfect union and a purposeful one. More books than SparkNotes. resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss thenovel. The Hill We Climb Symbols, Allegory and Motifs The Hill (Symbol) The image of the hill in the poem's title can have two meanings. Those are my faves! It is only the first of many ingenious literary devices at work in this piece. Pledging at $1/month gets you immediate access to the full Hamilblog, a breakdown of every song in Hamilton, as well as the ongoing Shakesblog, where Im working my way through Romeo and Juliet, and any other works that I do in-between the primary projects. She said that was when the inspiration for the poem fully formed in her mind. Gorman really lets the consonance off the leash in the next couple of lines, such that it becomes paroemion, where the consonance involves nearly every word in the sentence. The speaker begins to answer the question by using the metaphor of a new day, a dawn that comes after the darkness. This tired teacher has enjoyed the ride. A sea we must. Own time forms paromoiosis with own vine, which is a marvelously subtle way of transitioning to her next thought: victory picks up from victorious several lines earlier, through polyptoton, the repetition of a word in a different grammatical form. She asks rhetorical questions that suggest that there was no way that catastrophe was ever going to prevail over the country. She uses words like "dawn" , "striving", and "purpose" that point to the future. It is a line meant to shock recognition into us, to remind us that the reclamation was by no means certain. Victorious is a small appositio, describing the condition of being tied together, and then Gorman follows up that addition with another, longer qualification. She plays with words when she writes, what just is isnt always justice. And she references the Preamble to the US Constitution when she writes, that doesnt mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect. The founding fathers of our country understood that the country would always be a work-in-progress, and stated so by beginning the Constitution with these words: We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.. And Gorman's poem fits into this long and august tradition of inauguration poems, which began with Robert Frost at John F. Kennedy's inauguration in 1961. "our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance": "in" sounds The US Congress is known as Capitol Hill, so the hill in her poem is simultaneously a literal and physical manifestation. For example: You can also read some of the best poems about hope too. "The Hill We Climb" was first performed by Amanda Gorman on January 20, 2021, at the inauguration of President Joe Biden. resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss thenovel. Shes careful to remind the reader that this isnt an easy path, things dont change overnight. "harm to none and harmony to all": "harm" is repeated 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. She sees a nation that isn't broken beyond repair.
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