The Hill We Climb: Key Poetic Devices

Alliteration

Alliteration (uh-LIT-er-AY-shun) refers to the repetition of the same letter or sound at the beginning of nearby words. Gorman uses this technique throughout “The Hill We Climb” to create elevated rhetorical effects. Though alliteration appears frequently in the poem, the most prominent examples occur at moments when the speaker emphasizes the need for unity of purpose. As if to underscore the significance of this argument, the speaker strings together series of words that all start the same way. For example, in lines 21–23, the speaker emphasizes unity through the repetition of hard C sounds:

To compose a country committed
To all cultures, colors, characters,
And conditions of man.

Out of the fourteen words that make up this short passage, seven—a full half—begin with the same consonant sound. An even more extreme example appears near the poem’s end, as the speaker reaches the height of her rhetorical prowess (lines 88–92):

We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover,
In every known nook of our nation,
In every corner called our country,
Our people diverse and dutiful.
We’ll emerge, battered but beautiful.

Each line here centers a different consonant, creating a diverse array of alliterative sounds that nonetheless work in concert to emphasize the importance of unity.

Allusion

An allusion (uh-LOO-zhun) is a passing reference to a literary or historical person, place, or event. Though allusions tend to be made without explicit identification, Gorman does make one explicit allusion in lines 41–43:

Scripture tells us to envision that:
“Everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree,
And no one shall make them afraid.”

Here, the speaker quotes directly from the Bible. This passage is a citation from Micah 4:4, and the speaker quotes it in support of her larger argument about the need to work together rather than remain divided. Whereas this biblical allusion is explicit, the other allusions in the poem are more subtle. One key allusion comes in lines 84–87:

We will rise from the gold-limned hills of the West!
We will rise from the windswept Northeast, where our forefathers first realized revolution!
We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the Midwestern states!
We will rise from the sunbaked South!

The repeated phrase we will rise alludes to Maya Angelou’s poem, “Still I Rise,” which, as its title suggests, centers an image of ascent through the use of the refrain “I rise.” Gorman alludes to Angelou again in the closing lines of the poem, where the speaker invokes the image of a new day dawning (lines 93–94):

When day comes, we step out of the shade,
Aflame and unafraid.

Though this image offers a fairly conventional symbol for hope, it may be understood as an allusion to Angelou’s poem, “On the Pulse of the Morning,” which also closes with a powerful image of dawn. Aside from the shared imagery, this allusion is significant for the fact that Angelou also wrote her poem for the occasion of a presidential inauguration.

Parallelism

Parallelism refers to the use of successive lines or clauses that share the same grammatical structure. Gorman uses this technique at several key moments in “The Hill We Climb,” often to build tension or accumulate rhetorical force. The first significant instance of parallelism in the poem appears in lines 34–38:

Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:
That even as we grieved, we grew,
That even as we hurt, we hoped,
That even as we tired, we tried.
That we’ll forever be tied together.

This passage is significant, since it’s the first time the speaker makes an explicit claim about the importance of setting aside differences and forging a unified purpose. The speaker amplifies this message using a parallel structure in the middle three lines, each of which address a “we” who have suffered and toiled, yet also striven and triumphed. These lines create a sense of growing rhetorical power, conjuring a powerful notion of a “we” before finally arriving at the passage’s most important word: together. Several similar examples of parallelism appear in the poem, but none as climactic as that which appears in lines 82–87:

With every breath from our bronze-pounded chests,
We will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.
We will rise from the gold-limned hills of the West!
We will rise from the windswept Northeast, where our forefathers first realized revolution!
We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the Midwestern states!
We will rise from the sunbaked South!

At this culminating moment near the poem’s end, the speaker ratchets up her rhetorical performance with a series of five lines with a parallel structure. As with the previous example of parallelism cited above, this one concerns a “we.” Here, however, the point is not who the “we” is but rather what the “we” will do together—that is, rise.

Repetition

Gorman showcases several forms of repetition in “The Hill We Climb.” In some cases, her use of repetition overlaps with other poetic devices discussed elsewhere on this page. For example, Gorman’s use of parallelism often involves the repetition of complete verbal phrases. Similar to parallelism is a form of repetition known as anaphora (an-AF-fuh-ruh), which refers to the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive lines or clauses. Some instances of anaphora are also examples of parallelism. The lines quoted above are a case in point, as is the following passage, each line of which begins with the same refrain (lines 84–87):

We will rise from the gold-limned hills of the West!
We will rise from the windswept Northeast, where our forefathers first realized revolution!
We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the Midwestern states!
We will rise from the sunbaked South!

However, in the long stanza that leads up to this passage, there are many lines that begin with “we” and thereby prepare the way for the powerful refrain at the stanza’s end (lines 50–83):

We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it
. . .
We feared it at its inception.
We did not feel prepared to be the heirs
. . .
We will not march back to what was,
. . .
We will not be turned around,
. . .
We will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.

A third type of repetition that appears in “The Hill We Climb” is known by the technical term antanaclasis (AN-tuh-nuh-class-iss). This term refers to the repetition of a word in such a way that it means different things. In lines 31–33, for instance, Gorman uses the word arms in two distinct senses, and she also includes an approximation of the same technique with the contrary meanings of harm and harmony:

We lay down our arms
So that we can reach out our arms to one another.
We seek harm to none, and harmony for all.

Though used to different rhetorical effects, repetition provides varied tool for elevating the poem’s language and introducing clever wordplay.

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