Emily Dickinson's Poem Hope Is A Thing With Feathers
Emily Dickinson’s poem, “Hope Is a Thing with Feathers”, is a clear example of an extended metaphor, wherein Dickinson relates the meaning of hope to a fowl. Throughout the poem, the bird endures storms and desolate lands, while continuing to sing, but never asks for anything in return. It is a very short poem of only three stanzas, and each stanza only has four lines. This poem, like many of Dickinson’s poems, demonstrates a very specific rhythm of iambic trimeter, and begins with an ABCB rhyming pattern. However, the second and third stanza stray away from the ABCB pattern. This poem does not have a formal title; instead, the first line of the poem doubles as the title of the poem. The first two lines of this poem state, “Hope is a thing
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The first stanza describes the beauty and simplicity of the bird, while the second stanza begins to introduce the hardships that the bird faces. The second and third lines of this stanza begin to introduce gloomy subjects as the speaker says, “And sweetest in the gale is heard; / And sore must be the storm” (Dickinson 5-6). This stanza states that the bird continues to sing sweet melodies and continues to be heard even through dangerous storms and gales. Unlike the first stanza, the diction in the second stanza is very contrasting. The speaker describes storms, gales, and sores, while the bird is described as warm, little, and sweet. Despite foul weather, the bird continues to sing sweet melodies, and this foul weather functions as a symbol of hardships. Even though the bird is small and fragile, it has the strength to sing and overcome adversity. Instead of an ABCB rhyme scheme, this stanza takes on an ABAB pattern by rhyming “heard” with “bird” and “storm” with “worm”. An ABAB scheme divides the stanza into two very different sounds, and the contradicting sounds rhetorically function as the contrast between the bird and the storm. Overall, this stanza represents the strength of human hope. Similar to the bird, hope may be the only sense of positivity during
The first stanza describes the beauty and simplicity of the bird, while the second stanza begins to introduce the hardships that the bird faces. The second and third lines of this stanza begin to introduce gloomy subjects as the speaker says, “And sweetest in the gale is heard; / And sore must be the storm” (Dickinson 5-6). This stanza states that the bird continues to sing sweet melodies and continues to be heard even through dangerous storms and gales. Unlike the first stanza, the diction in the second stanza is very contrasting. The speaker describes storms, gales, and sores, while the bird is described as warm, little, and sweet. Despite foul weather, the bird continues to sing sweet melodies, and this foul weather functions as a symbol of hardships. Even though the bird is small and fragile, it has the strength to sing and overcome adversity. Instead of an ABCB rhyme scheme, this stanza takes on an ABAB pattern by rhyming “heard” with “bird” and “storm” with “worm”. An ABAB scheme divides the stanza into two very different sounds, and the contradicting sounds rhetorically function as the contrast between the bird and the storm. Overall, this stanza represents the strength of human hope. Similar to the bird, hope may be the only sense of positivity during