'Hope' is the Thing with Feathers

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'Hope' is the Thing with Feathers

Definition poems - use physical details to define what an abstract experience is or is not

Likens hope to something physical in order to illustrate it

Small bird that exists within us - 'perches in the soul'

Forever singing a song, song sounds the "sweetest" when we are faced with difficult circumstances, when we need hope most - use of superlatives

Strong, resilient, helped so many endure hardship "kept so many warm"

1st/2nd stanza - hope general to everyone. 3rd stanza Dickinson speaks of her own personal experience of hope.

Hope never asking anything in return - it has not "asked a crumb" of the poet.

Hope and Hardship (Theme)

Hope- described as something fragile, a bird, yet strong and resilient when tested, poem places the little bird in the harshest of environments "in the chillest land" "on the strangest sea" - hope never dies - it is said to "never" stop singing "at all"\

Dickinson's poems often contain times of hardship and mental strain where we are left with little hope only anguish. This poem also describes a time o hardship, using images of strange and cold lands to describe the suffering, yet in this poem the speaker is not alone, hope is with her at all times, comfort evident in this poem that lacks in the others.

Nature, Mental Anguish

superlatives - sweetest, chillest, strangest

optimistic poem, strong unconditional hope, withstand every crisis, there for everyone, the value of hope, personification, nature images, dashes suggest continuation "And never stops - at all -"

alliteration - without the words, strangest sea

makes abstract concrete

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