In January 2021, Amanda Gorman read The Hill We Climb at the inauguration of U.S. President Joe Biden. As a young Black woman poet performing after the Capitol attack and during the pandemic, she became a sudden global literary figure. The poem framed democracy as unfinished, wounded, and still speakable.

Gorman's performance brought public ceremonial poetry to millions of viewers who rarely encounter contemporary verse. It renewed debates about occasional poetry, youth voice, race, performance, and whether national healing poems can hold both hope and historical violence.