Meet the Youngest Inaugural Poet, Amanda Gorman
22 year old Amanda Gorman had big shoes to fill as the youngest ever inaugural poet. At the inauguration of President Joe Biden on Wednesday, Gorman read her poem, “The Hill We Climb”, which she finished very recently following the riots that took place in the U.S. Capitol on January 6th.
You wouldn’t be crazy if you felt like Gorman was paying homage to poet Maya Angelou. Per an interview with Vogue, Oprah Winfrey actually got in touch with Gorman after she heard that she would be reading at the ceremony. Similarly, in 1993, after finding out that Maya Angelou would be the inaugural poet, Winfrey sent her a Chanel coat and a pair of gloves. In keeping with tradition and encouraging Gorman's admiration for Angelou, this year, Winfrey sent Gorman a pair of gold earrings and a ring from Nikos Koulis and Of Rare Origin, respectively.
Per the same Vogue article, it was actually Dr. Jill Biden who scouted Gorman for the ceremony after seeing a video of her delivering a reading of her poem “In This Place: An American Lyric”, at the Library of Congress in 2017.
Though Amanda was given a little over a month to write an original poem for the ceremony, it only came together fully following the riots that took place in the U.S. Capitol at the beginning of the month. She drew from both the chaos and tragedy of 2020 as a whole, and the more than tumultuous start to 2021.
 |
| Amanda Gorman at the 2021 Inauguration via IndieWire.com |
You wouldn’t be crazy if you felt like Gorman was paying homage to poet Maya Angelou. Per an interview with Vogue, Oprah Winfrey actually got in touch with Gorman after she heard that she would be reading at the ceremony. Similarly, in 1993, after finding out that Maya Angelou would be the inaugural poet, Winfrey sent her a Chanel coat and a pair of gloves. In keeping with tradition and encouraging Gorman's admiration for Angelou, this year, Winfrey sent Gorman a pair of gold earrings and a ring from Nikos Koulis and Of Rare Origin, respectively.
Per the same Vogue article, it was actually Dr. Jill Biden who scouted Gorman for the ceremony after seeing a video of her delivering a reading of her poem “In This Place: An American Lyric”, at the Library of Congress in 2017.
Though Amanda was given a little over a month to write an original poem for the ceremony, it only came together fully following the riots that took place in the U.S. Capitol at the beginning of the month. She drew from both the chaos and tragedy of 2020 as a whole, and the more than tumultuous start to 2021.
Amanda Gorman has more than proved that poetry is still a very valuable humanity - one that particularly speaks to the human soul in a way that nothing else can.
You can watch Amanda Gorman deliver her poem, “The Hill We Climb” below:
You can watch Amanda Gorman deliver her poem, “The Hill We Climb” below:
Comments
Post a Comment