‘Hamilton,’ the prophets and liberal Catholicism: Poet Amanda Gorman took her shot…

After Inauguration Day, everyone was buzzing — obviously — about weary Sen. Bernie Sanders and his mittens, as well as Lady Gaga’s massive social-distance enforcing dress. Commentators explored the socio-political importance of the various shades of purple worn by female Democrats, while Garth Brooks raised eyebrows with blue jeans and maskless-hugs of assorted presidents.

Oh, and President Joe Biden belted out an address that was Bill Clinton-esque in terms of length.

But there was no question that the day’s rising star was Amanda Gorman, the young poet in the canary-yellow coat who certainly didn’t throw away her shot. The question, for GetReligion readers, was whether there was a religion angle in her work that meshed with the rest of the Inauguration Day celebration of the Gospel according to the Religious Left.

Anyone with a computer-based device and a search engine could easily learn that the answer was, “Yes.”

As one would expect, the New York Times offered the definitive faith-free story: “Amanda Gorman Captures the Moment, in Verse.” Now, it was totally valid that the overture underlined the role that the January 6th conspiracy-theory apocalypse played in the creation of the poem. The question is whether this young Catholic woman’s faith was part of her response to it.

Two weeks ago, the poet Amanda Gorman was struggling to finish a new work titled “The Hill We Climb.” She was feeling exhausted, and she worried she wasn’t up to the monumental task she faced: composing a poem about national unity to recite at President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s inauguration.

“I had this huge thing, probably one of the most important things I’ll ever do in my career,” she said in an interview. “It was like, if I try to climb this mountain all at once, I’m just going to pass out.”

Gorman managed to write a few lines a day and was about halfway through the poem on Jan. 6, when pro-Trump rioters stormed into the halls of Congress, some bearing weapons and Confederate flags. She stayed awake late into the night and finished the poem, adding verses about the apocalyptic scene that unfolded at the Capitol. …

At one point, this Times piece came close to exploring the DNA of key passages in her poem. Of course, the “Hamilton” influence was relevant (hold that thought). Then there was this:

Gorman began the process, as she always does, with research. She took inspiration from the speeches of American leaders who tried to bring citizens together during times of intense division, including Abraham Lincoln and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

But that was that.

The Associated Press report came closer, in the report (“Inaugural poet Amanda Gorman: ‘Even as we grieved, we grew’ “) that would have reached ordinary news consumers outside elite zip codes. Here is the overture on that news feature:

NEW YORK (AP) — The country has a new president and a new literary star. In one of the inauguration’s most talked about moments, poet Amanda Gorman summoned images dire and triumphant Wednesday as she called out to the world “even as we grieved, we grew.”

The 22-year-old Gorman referenced everything from Biblical scripture to “Hamilton,” and at times echoed the oratory of John F. Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. With urgency and assertion she began by asking “Where can we find light/In this never-ending shade?” and used her own poetry and life story as an answer. The poem’s very title, “The Hill We Climb,” suggested both labor and transcendence.

At that point, I thought AP would explore the rest of that equation. But, no.

If you wanted to know more, you needed to turn commentaries at niche media that serve religious liberals of various kinds — such as Sojourners, America or Religion News Service. For non-Donald Trump evangelicals, there was an insightful piece at Christianity Today.

I was somewhat amused that the National Catholic Reporter missed the Catholic angle of this story, but them corrected itself with a strategic correction:

Amanda Gorman, a National Youth Poet Laureate, delivered a poem that was stunning in its energy and beauty. The poise of one so young could not have contrasted more starkly from the images of the crude and crass Trump backers who had defiled the Capitol during the insurrection. Her words spoke of healing and, like a sacrament, they effected what they signified. Gorman is a star, and her performance at the inaugural will be remembered for many years when her future artistic efforts capture our hearts again. She may not be Catholic, but I think of her now as an honorary Catholic.*

That asterisk pointed to this:

* Editor’s note: After publication of this column, NCR learned that Gorman is Catholic and a member of St. Brigid Church in Los Angeles.

As it turned out, Gorman was a perfect fit for the day — a brilliant Ivy League woman of color whose popular-culture-edged work suggested that her Catholic faith resonates with Biden’s own intense, personal and Catechism-optional commitment to progressive culture, including a strong commitment to abortion rights.