Amanda Gorman blew us all away with her poem ‘The Hill We Climb’ at Biden’s inauguration. But fans of the musical Hamilton were particularly pleased with two lines in particular. If you missed the references, we’ve got you covered.
The first reference to Hamilton is in the line: “Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid.”
This is a reference to the song “One Last Time” where Washington, asking Hamilton to pen his farewell address, refers to this same scripture: “Like the scripture says: ‘Everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree – And no one shall make them afraid.’ I want to sit under my own vine and fig tree.”
The second Hamilton reference comes a bit later in the poem in the line, “For while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us.”
This is another reference to Washington and the song “History Has Its Eyes on You.” The line “History Has Its Eyes on Me/You.” is used frequently throughout various songs in the musical.
Aside from these lines being included, Hamilton played a huge role in the poem in another way.
Gorman not only used the musical as inspiration for the language used in the poem, but it also impacted her reading of it.
In an interview with Anderson Cooper, Gorman talked about her speech impediment and explained that she would try to sing along with the song “Aaron Burr, Sir” to help her with her pronunciation of the letter “r.”
In the interview, she says, “I think ‘Hamilton’ is such a great kind of American cultural piece of what it means to be a better country.”
After the Inauguration, Hamilton writer Lin Manuel Miranda expressed his excitement about her poem on Twitter, to which Gorman replied, confirming the two references.
In an interview with Good Morning America, Gorman was surprised once again when Lin sent her a special message saying, “The right words in the right order can change the world, and you proved that yesterday with your brilliant piece. I’m so incredibly proud of you, and I can’t wait to see what’s next. You smashed it.”
Needless to say, many of us will have our eyes on Amanda Gorman’s bright future going forward. All I want to ask is, when can we get a Lin and Amanda collab? The world might not be wide enough.