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In a general sense, the setting of “The Hill We Climb” may be understood as the United States of America in the twenty-first century. Throughout the poem, the speaker meditates on how this supposedly unified confederacy of states remains haunted by the violence, pain, and division of its past. But the speaker’s point isn’t simply to examine history. Rather, she seeks to remind us that the past always conditions the present. Thus, if we are to have any chance of imagining a more just and equitable future, we must begin by repairing the residual damage of our history. The fact that the speaker is addressing the possibility of a more promising future draws our attention to a second and more specific sense of setting: the presidential inauguration ceremony for Joe Biden, where Gorman premiered “The Hill We Climb.” The speaker, who may identify with Gorman herself, explicitly references this live reading in the fourth stanza (lines 13–17):

We, the successors of a country and a time
Where a skinny Black girl,
Descended from slaves and raised by a single mother,
Can dream of becoming president,
Only to find herself reciting for one.

Uttered for the occasion of a new president’s inauguration, the poem is therefore poised on the cusp of a new administration and its renewed vision for the country. In this context, the speaker articulates her perspective on what this vision should take into account.

Next section Themes

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