Perspectives

Current issues

The poem “The Hill We Climb” by Amanda Gorman was written for the presidential inauguration of Joe Biden. The theme for the inauguration was “Unity” and the poem was supposed to reflect this theme. The poem was read by Gorman herself at the inauguration which took place on January 20, 2021. The poem was written after the 2020 US presidential elections, and finished on the night of the storming of the US Capitol. Gorman said that the events at the US Capitol led her to write the most significant lines in the poem. 

The 2020 US presidential election took place in the background of several events which divided the country’s opinions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns, and the protests following the murder of several African Ame...