New Day's Lyric Analysis

The poem “New Day’s Lyric” by the brilliant Amanda Gorman gives us hope as we venture past the struggles of last year and enter into a new one. Her way of using inspirational words throughout every line and stanza builds confidence in the readers so that we truly believe we will have an amazing year. Not only does she speak about being hopeful for the new year, but she also speaks about the importance of remembering the hardships of the past so that we notice how far we have come. The message that as our country and communities come together to fight against certain situations we can move into the new year without anxiety and know that the new normal we are creating will be better than the normal we once new is timeless in a way that lets us

Though this is true, the allusions she uses could be applied to many events that happened in 2022 as we enter into the 2023 new year. In one section of her poem she says, “So let us not return to what was normal, but reach towards what is next.” If I were putting this into the context of when it was written, I would say it is alluding to the question of when we would get back to normal by our country and specifically by the students in our country because of the pandemic. Applying this to our present-day situation, I would say this statement could be alluding to our normal of getting by with the bare minimum in 2022, and how we should start truly reaching our full individual potential in the new year. This allusion adds to the main message of the poem that we should keep our eyes on the future and not the past by making us think about what our new normal could be, and not what we missed out on in the

One important example of juxtaposition that is used in the poem is, “What was cursed, we will cure. What was plagued, we will prove pure.” This simple use of juxtaposition makes it evident that even though we went through hard situations in the past, we can make decisions that provide a completely different outcome. In 2023 I personally went through a few things that changed the way I act and how I treat people. At the time of these occurrences I felt that nothing good could come from such bad feelings, but I realized that as my community came together, we could turn what looked horrible into something that had a beautiful meaning. Along with this, she uses a metaphor to contrast different things by saying, “This hope is our door, our portal.” This is comparing our hope for a more prosperous life as we enter into the new year to a door or portal which helps us understand that she is expecting a big change as we enter into a new chapter of our lives. When we think of a portal most of us would think of something magical, or a way to enter into a completely different door. She wants us to look at the new year as a way to enter into a better version of