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The Dawn

Gorman opens and closes the poem by invoking the image of the dawn. This image frames the poem with a potent symbol of new beginnings and hope for a brighter future. As the poem begins, the promise of a better future doesn’t seem guaranteed. This is why the speaker starts by asking a question that expresses a degree of skepticism (lines 1–3):

When day comes, we ask ourselves:
Where can we find light
In this never-ending shade?

Although a new day is sure to come, the speaker wants to know if this new day is also guaranteed to bring light to a situation that has otherwise remained shrouded in “never-ending shade.” From here, the speaker proceeds to discuss the reasons for her skepticism, which is rooted in the unresolved tensions and unhealed wounds that linger from a troubling past. Yet ultimately the speaker believes that, with work, the damage of the past can be addressed, and a better future can be secured. Thus, she concludes the poem with a more hopeful return to the image of the dawn (lines 93–98):

When day comes, we step out of the shade,
Aflame and unafraid.
The new dawn blooms as we free it,
For there is always light,
If only we’re brave enough to see it,
If only we’re brave enough to be it.

Now clearly positive in its significance, the dawn symbolizes the speaker’s hope for a brighter future. In addition to this more generic symbolism, it’s worth noting that Gorman’s use of the dawn as a framing device also references the specific occasion for which the poem was written: the presidential inauguration, which marks the cusp of a new administration.

The Hill

Although the dawn offers the promise of a brighter future, the speaker is keen to emphasize that we won’t experience the morning light if we remain down in the valley of shadow. Thus, if we want to experience the inspiration of a new dawn breaking, we must first climb the hill out of the valley. The landscape conjured here is clearly symbolic rather than literal, and, as the poem’s title indicates, it’s the hill that’s most important. The speaker builds up to the symbol of the hill by outlining some of the ways the United States’s troubling past continues to haunt its present. She insists that it’s possible to bridge the divides that persist between Americans and to work together toward a better future. However, the work will be difficult and daunting. In the eighth stanza, the speaker frames this important work as an uphill struggle (lines 44–49):

If we’re to live up to our own time, then victory
Won’t lie in the blade, but in all the bridges we’ve made.
That is the promised glade,
The hill we climb, if only we dare it:
Because being American is more than a pride we inherit—
It’s the past we step into and how we repair it.

Though an uphill struggle is, by definition, grueling, the benefits far outweigh the cost. After all, once the uphill struggle is complete, the nation will be symbolically elevated. And from this vantage at the top of the hill, we can bear witness to the sun rising on a new day.

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