By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Amanda Gorman’s poem ‘We Rise’ is an inspiring piece celebrating female empowerment and solidarity which calls upon women to support each other to bring about social change. The poem also cleverly summons the work of earlier poets who had written on the same topic.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
The American poet Amanda Gorman was born in 1998, and when she was still in her early twenties she was reading her poetry in front of an audience of millions: she has performed her poems at US presidential inaugurations and at the Super Bowl, watched by nearly 100 million people.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘In This Place (An American Lyric)’ is a poem by the contemporary American poet Amanda Gorman (born 1998). The poem is an example of what is known as an occasional poem, or a poem written for a specific occasion: Gorman wrote it for the inaugural reading of the US Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith at the Library of Congress.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
In January 2021, the 22-year-old poet Amanda Gorman achieved a record: she became the youngest person ever to recite a poem at a US President’s inauguration, when Gorman read her poem ‘The Hill We Climb’ at the inauguration of President Joe Biden.
The poem is hopeful while being realistic about the struggles the United States faces – together – during a period of political and medical turmoil, not least because of the various events of 2020.