Alex Wright
ENG 102
Prof. Neubauer
12/5/11
An Analysis of “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers-”
Emily Dickinson is regarded as one of America’s greatest poets. She used many
metaphors in her writing to convey her ideas. She also used her experiences to create
“irony, ambiguity and paradox” within her poems (Meyer 1049). Dickinson often used
conventional things like items within her house and domestic duties to explore deeper
meanings and experiences in her life (1049). She often focused on topics like love, death,
faith, pain and self ( 1050). In Dickinson’s poem “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers-”, she
utilizes metaphor, symbol and punctuation to express her style while representing the
theme of hope.
First, Dickinson uses a singing, flying bird as a metaphor within the poem to
describe Hope. The poet describes hope as being a “thing with feathers- that perches in
the soul-” which suggests a deep meaning of how hope is within people, deep in their
souls (Dickinson 1-2). It may also suggest that when hope is found, it stays within people
and doesn’t just fade away, it perches and stays resilient. In the second stanza, Dickinson
writes “And sore must be the storm- That could abash the little Bird That kept so many
warm-” (6-8). Since the bird stands for hope, the storm represents something that ruins
hope or threatens it. The poem describes the storm as being sore, and could mean that
whatever is low enough to crush someone’s hope should feel sorely about it, possibly
feeling remorse, regret, shame, or signifying lowliness or a negative representation. The
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11th and 12th lines state “Yet, never, in Extremity, It asked a crumb- of Me.” (Dickinson)
This may imply that even in the worst scenarios, hope has never taken anything from
Dickinson. The author could be conveying the idea that it is okay to hope, because there
are no negative effects of having hope.
Next, Dickinson utilizes symbol to convey her theme by describing a song sang
by the bird. It states “And sings the tune without words-And never stops at all-”
(Dickinson 3-4). This may suggest that hope never stops, and even though it isn’t
tangible, it still exists and is strong and ever-lasting. Also, in line 5, it is worded “And
sweetest- in the Gale- is heard-.” This may mean that in the harshest of conditions, hope
is still heard and maintains. The same can be said about “ I’ve heard it in the chillest
land- And on the strangest Sea-” in line 9 and 10. The symbolism behind the song
suggests the strength in Dickinson’s hope.
Last, Dickinson portrays the poem using a distinctive writing style. First, the word
Hope is written in quotation marks as the very first word in the poem. In Sean Robisch’s
article, he suggests that Hope is an “Abstraction,” or “an idea that might lack proof or
substance” (2). He states that the way Dickinson wrote it “invests Hope with substance,”
and “gives it power to sing continuously, to weather a storm, to exist in the harshest
environments” (Robisch). Dickinson, famous for using dashes in her writing, utilizes
them in this poem as well. The dash is believed to be used as a dramatic pause, such as
after “crumb” in the last line (Robisch). Robisch states in paragraph 7 that the dash after
crumb may suggest that even though the bird hasn’t asked for a crumb from Dickinson
specifically, it may have from someone else at some time. He suggests that it may also
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mean other things, such as that the capitalized “Me” could mean that the author is
disappointed that the bird never asked a crumb from her specifically (Robisch). Robisch
suggests that Dickinson uses dashes and grammatically incorrect comma placement to
show freedom in the strict system of grammar. Dickinson also capitalizes several words
in the poem. She may capitalize “Gale” and “Extremity” to emphasize the adversity that
hope faces and still overcomes (Dickinson 5, 11). She may capitalize “Bird” to
emphasize hope. Dickinson’s unique style and punctuation placement express creative
freedom and add emphasis to her theme.
Emily Dickinson became a well-known poet through her distinctive style and
creative use of metaphor and symbol, and within “’Hope’ is the thing with feathers-”,
there is no exception. Dickinson portrays Hope as a singing, flying bird, capable of
weathering the harshest conditions and staying strong. Robisch seems to be torn between
ideas within the poem, but Dickinson seems to believe that hope is a strong ideal that
stays within a person and is hard to defeat.
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Works Cited
Dickinson, Emily. ‘“Hope” is the thing with wings-.’ The Bedford Introduction to
Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011.
1056- 57. Print.
Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 9th ed.
Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. 1049-50. Print.
Robisch, Sean. “An Overview of “’Hope’ is the Thing with Feathers”.” Poetry for
Students. Detroit: Gale. Literature Resource Center. Web. 4 Dec. 2011.