The Hill We Climb

Echoing the theme of Barack Obama’s first presidential run in 2008, Gorman’s poem casts the incoming presidency of Joe Biden as one of hope. Though the poem spends considerable time reflecting on what Gorman sees as the negative presidency of Donald Trump, the poem is always quick to contrast that negativity with a positive belief in the future of America. This happens in the poem’s first lines, as Gorman opens with an image of the coming day and the dawn. The imagery of the dawn sky and the rising sun represents renewal. It suggests the coming of life, warmth, and energy after the darkness and cold of the night. This coming of dawn runs throughout the poem, ultimately becoming the poem’s final image. That Gorman begins and ends with it suggests hope is the most pressing theme she wishes to communicate.

Still, Gorman’s theme of hope is measured. Often in political rhetoric, speakers rely on hope in a romanticized, unrealistic way, using it to draw their audience’s attention away from whatever problems afflict them. But here, Gorman combines her optimistic vision for the future with a realistic assessment of the past and present.