Table of Contents
Introduction
“New Day’s Lyric” is a joyful poem written by the outstanding African American author and activist Amanda Gorman. The poem, which was published in 2021, inspires readers to have hope for the future. It also takes into account the difficulties people have faced in the past. However, it has gained popularity because it inspires readers on a moral and intellectual level.
About the poet
American poet and activist Amanda S. C. Gorman focuses on problems of racial injustice, feminism, and marginalization. She authored The One for Whom Food Is Not Enough in 2015 and became the first individual to hold the title of National Youth Poet Laureate. She gained notoriety in 2021 when she composed and spoke her poem “The Hill We Climb” at Joe Biden’s inauguration. She made the 100 Next List of Time magazine and was the first poet to perform at the Super Bowl.
Analysis
Stanza 1
May this be the day We come together. Mourning, we come to mend, Withered, we come to weather, Torn, we come to tend, Battered, we come to better. Tethered by this year of yearning, We are learning That though we weren’t ready for this, We have been readied by it. We steadily vow that no matter How we are weighed down, We must always pave a way forward.
The author opens this poem by requesting that “this day” be the day when everyone in the world comes together. She refers to a “day” that refers to the start of a new year. The poet believes that once 2021 comes and goes, everything will alter. Despite all the gloom that has pervaded the planet in recent years, “we come to mend.” In order to give the poem a song-like character, the author employs multiple instances of alliteration in the following lines. These highlight her desire for harmony in the face of opposition and loss. The pain and losses brought on by the COVID-19 epidemic during the past two years are the “this” that Gorman refers to in line nine of the poem. It has “readied” us, she claims. The tragedies and challenges they caused have equipped the globe to deal with current concerns and should enable “us” to work together to solve future issues.
Stanza 2
This hope is our door, our portal. Even if we never get back to normal, Someday we can venture beyond it, To leave the known and take the first steps. So let us not return to what was normal, But reach toward what is next.
The second stanza is shorter than the opening one. The poet here says that “hope” in the future and that what individuals can do for one another and themselves is “our portal.” It is how we try to “get back to normal.” One day, everyone in the globe will be able to enter the room, leave “the known,” and start moving towards what is coming next. This refers to both the epidemic and the social justice movements that the outbreak aided in igniting. It speaks to how people of color are treated both domestically and internationally, as well as how hourly employees and those who have supported the nation over the past two years are treated. Those who are overlooked will be looked for and valued in a manner they have never been before once we cross over to the other side of the door of hope.
Stanza 3
What was cursed, we will cure. What was plagued, we will prove pure. Where we tend to argue, we will try to agree, Those fortunes we forswore, now the future we foresee, Where we weren’t aware, we’re now awake; Those moments we missed Are now these moments we make, The moments we meet, And our hearts, once altogether beaten, Now all together beat.
More instances of alliteration are used in the third verse to imply that things will change when “we” enter the room of hope. The poet writes, “What was plagued, we will prove pure.” Because everyone will be more conscious of the issue than they were before, the future will be more promising. The moments that will be “made” in the future are what was lost. This is another reference to all that the COVID-19 epidemic missed and lost.
Stanza 4
Come, look up with kindness yet, For even solace can be sourced from sorrow. We remember, not just for the sake of yesterday, But to take on tomorrow.
In the fourth stanza, the speaker expresses optimism that good will triumph and that we may “remember” the past in order to face the future.
Stanza 5
We heed this old spirit, In a New Day’s lyric, In our hearts, we hear it: For auld lang syne, my dear, For auld lang syne. Be bold, sang Time this year, Be bold, sang Time, For when you honor yesterday, Tomorrow ye will find. Know what we’ve fought Need not be forgot nor for none. It defines us, binds us as one, Come over, join this day just begun. For wherever we come together, We will forever overcome.
The poem’s final verse has the refrain “For auld lang syne.” This sentence will be familiar to most readers because of a well-known song of the same name. It is a song sung to say goodbye to the previous year and welcome the new one. It means “old long ago” or, more precisely, “days gone by.” Other readings imply “time long past” and “long long ago.” The speaker personifies time in these last lines, implying that “Time” sings these lyrics in an effort to inspire everyone to keep going forward and not forget the past. The poem has a perfect rhyme toward the conclusion. When “We Come Together / We Will Forever Overcome,” Gorman says, “We will forever overcome.” The only way the world will improve is through cooperation and a shared goal.
