ipl-logo

Emily Dickinson's Hope

169 Words1 Pages
The major theme of the poem is that in the human heart, hope endures, defeating despair despite overwhelming circumstances.Emily Dickinson characterizes hope as a bird. Nature metaphors.The first two lines: " 'Hope ' is a thing with feathers / That perches in the soul--". The fact that it has "feathers" makes Hope seem rather feeble or amusing, depending on one 's reading, which could be optimistic or pessimistic.
Hope "perches" in our soul, ever present. It prevails even when there is no cause or reason to be hopeful:
And sings the tune without the words--
And never stops--at all--
Dickinson points out that hope endures under the most difficult circumstances by extending her metaphor. She has heard the little bird 's song "in the chillest
Open Document