The first time I heard of Amanda Gorman was at the inauguration of Joe Biden, when she stepped up to the podium, in her bright yellow jacket, with her hair held perfectly in place by a bold red headband. When she began to recite the poem, “The Hill We Climb,” which she had written for this occasion, I was instantly entranced by her confidence and the combination of words she had so masterfully arranged. As soon as she finished, I was ready to listen to her poem again, and with a quick internet search, I had it downloaded. 

The inauguration she spoke at took place less than 20 days after the attack on the US Capitol by some of its own citizens. This event darkened an already deeply depressed country still wading through the pandemic. But during this fearsome time, Amanda’s words delivered hope and healing. In the final phrases of her poem, she shares this inspiration:

For there is always light,

if only we’re brave enough to see it,

if only we’re brave enough to be it.

Those phrases lifted my spirits for the next few days, and promise had replaced the concerns I carried during this strained time. Within a short time, my junior high students would be attending school in person, at our physical building. They had been alone at home earlier in the year, only participating in online learning on Zoom with me once a week from their black screens. They had been in isolation for over a year and for many, this was their first experience being at junior high, so they were filled with anxiety and stress.

My department had planned to teach George Orwell’s “Animal Farm”; however, I doubted this would be useful to my socially starved students. Instead, I had a different plan circling in the back of my mind. I thought about replacing the serious inquiry of “Animal Farm” with the hope-filled words of Amanda and her poetry. I quickly decided to choose the path of hope, so my class immediately started the week with Amanda Gorman’s poem, “The Hill We Climb.” They were instantly mesmerized by her brilliant smile, the rhythm of her words, her gracious hand movements, poise, and of course, her make-up. After listening to her recite her poem, we read through its words, where they eagerly pull out alliteration, personification, and repetition. We had discussed figurative language as a class, but Amanda made it come to life. Next, we looked for meaning in the lines of her poem, and there, my students found what I had hoped they would find – they discovered validation for their year of grief, hurt, and exhaustion. They realized that they could “raise this wounded world into a wondrous one” and “emerge battered and beautiful,” and after a few days of discussion and discovery, they asked to read more of Amanda’s poems. They had fallen in love with her, and as a result, her rhythmic phrases helped them fall in love with poetry. 

Just as my students needed hope and comfort, we all require help as we continue to spend our days in exhausting uncertainty. One of the places to find this peace is in the perfectly placed words of Amanda Gorman. Her words acknowledge that we are all suffering but assures us that:

When this ends, we’ll smile sweetly, finally seeing

In testing times, we became the best of beings. *

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* “Miracle of Morning” by Amanda Gorman

**Enjoy Amanda Gorman’s poem, “The Hill We Climb.”