The Theme Of The Poem Hope Is The Thing With Feathers

We all have important virtues that help us escape from the darkness that exists in our lives. When the going gets tough, it can be difficult to find confidence in a brighter future. For Emily Dickinson, life was a constant battle against mental illness and isolation. In her poem “Hope” is the thing with feathers, Dickinson displays her issues through her comparison of hope to a living creature. This relationship is important because it demonstrates how even in the worst times, there is always something to keep us going. Dickinson’s extended metaphor comparing hope to a bird represents many of her personal experiences and is used to illustrate the optimism that exists within every human soul. Dickinson lived a life that was full of both faith …show more content…
She begins by stating that “’Hope’ is the thing with feathers-”(). The first thing that stood out to me while reading this was the quotations around “hope”. I believe that Dickinson did this to apply emphasis to the word and also to make it seem as though the word is being defined by the metaphor. Her intention was for the reading to later associate this word with the “thing with feathers”, which is the bird. After this, Dickinson moves on to describe how the bird perches in the soul and sings the tune without any words. This lack of words is significant because it suggests that the song is pure and can be interpreted individually by each listener. At the end of the stanza, Dickinson concludes by saying that the bird never stops singing “– at all – “. The use of punctuation is very important here. In contrast to the rest of the lines that end with a dash, this line includes two dashed marks around “at all”. This difference is used to emphasize that similar to the song of the bird, the hope which lives inside of us is eternal and cannot be blocked or broken. The overall message of this stanza is that hope lives within us and can never be let go …show more content…
The first two lines of the stanza state, “I’ve heard it in the chillest land- and on the strangest Sea -” (). I believe that Dickinson uses these pronouns because she has personally been saved by hope in her darkest hours. It is important that no matter where she goes in life, she can still hear the song. The next part of this stanza is significant as well because she discusses how this idea of the bird was always there for her but never even asked for a crumb. By this, Dickinson is saying that hope is always there without asking for something in return. In this stanza as well, the use of dashes is used for emphasis. The word “never” is put between two dashes in order to highlight that even in the most extreme situations, hope would never ask for a