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Gorman wrote “The Hill We Climb” in free verse, which means the poem doesn’t follow a regular meter. The reader can identify the poem as a work of free verse simply by considering the wide range of line lengths. The shortest lines in the poem consist of just 5 syllables, and there are many examples of lines this short. Take, for example, line 2: “Where we can find light.” By contrast, the longest line in the poem has 22 syllables: “We will rise from the windswept Northeast, where our forefathers first realized revolution” (line 85). Despite this wide range, the majority of lines in the poem fall between 6 and 12 syllables. Just as Gorman employs a wide range of line lengths, she also takes a variable approach to rhythm. Gorman’s choice not to impose any consistent restrictions on line length and to avoid regular rhythm results in a language that, though rhetorically elevated, often seems closer to prose.

For a representative example of Gorman’s of free verse, consider lines 18–23:

And, yes, we are far from pol-ished, far from pris-tine,
But that doesn’t mean we are stri-ving to form a u-nion that is per-fect.
We are stri-ving to forge our u-nion with pur-pose.
To com-pose a coun-try com-mitt-ed
To all cul-tures, co-lors, char-ac-ters,
And con-di-tions of man.

Nowhere in this passage do we find a consistent rhythm. If we attempted to analyze this passage using the traditional methods of scansion, we’d find that the meter changes from foot to foot. To take just the first line as an example, we could scan it as follows: “And, yes, / we are far / from pol- / ished, far / from pris-tine.” According to this breakdown, the line contains one iamb (unstressed–stressed), one anapest (unstressed–unstressed–stressed), another iamb, a trochee (stressed–unstressed), and another anapest. No two sequential feet are the same—which is precisely why this analytical method isn’t very helpful in Gorman’s case. Just as the meter shifts constantly, so too do the line lengths. The lines in this short passage range between 6 and 18 syllables. The only two consecutive lines with an identical length are the fourth and fifth lines. Yet despite all this variation, the passage quoted above has a distinct and even eloquent cadence. Through the variations and rhythm and length, Gorman controls the flow of language in a way that creates subtle yet sophisticated modulations of pace and timing.

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