Hope+by+Emily+Dickenson

=“Hope” is the thing with feathers= By Emily Dickinson 1830–1886 Emily Dickinson “Hope” is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all - And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard - And sore must be the storm - That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm - I’ve heard it in the chillest land - And on the strangest Sea - Yet - never - in Extremity, It asked a crumb - of me.

In Emily Dickinson’s poem, “Hope is the thing with feathers,” the poet uses symbolism by portraying ‘hope’ as a bird. The poet puts a concrete image on a feeling with no concrete form. In lines 1-2, “Hope is the thing with feathers- that perches in the soul,” the poet is possibly giving an answer to where hope resides inside of us. In real life hope inhabits you, but where? The poet gives you a mental picture of where hope dwells within you. “And sings the tune without the word,” (line 3) I believe the poet is trying to convey that hope is a feeling that can not be put into words. In line 5, the poet goes onto say, “And the sweetest- in the Gale- is heard-,” that hope is the sweetest song heard in the middle of torment. “I’ve heard it in the chilliest land- And on the strangest Sea-,” (lines 9 and 10) I believe the poet is speaking of a bleak time in her life when possibly the poet felt adrift mentally and hope comforted her. The final lines of the poem, “Yet- never- in Extremity, It asked a crumb- of me,” (lines 11 and 12) the poet relays that under the worst of circumstances hope never asked anything of her. The tone of the poem is somber even though the subject is optimistic. The poet used figurative language to represent hope as a thing with feathers in this poem it is a bird.