Emily Dickinson Word Choice And Metaphor

In the first stanza, Dickinson uses word choice, and metaphor to explain that the bird represents hope and hope is prevalent within us. Dickinson uses a literal and standard definition of hope. Initially, she general categorizes it by saying it “is the thing” and then differentiates it. By doing so, Dickinson is classify hope as a bird. In other words, if Dickinson had called hope a spiritual idea or human ambition, the metaphor would have lost meaning. Instead, by using the word “thing”, the metaphor is more ambiguous. Similar to how a bird might perch in its nest, Dickinson states that hope "perches in the soul" (2) therefore explaining how both existences are closely knit with humans. Explaining that birds and hope "perch" is important to understand the link between birds and hope. …show more content…
While hope will never literally "leave" a person, it can be "lost" in a sense, although there is a possibility that it will return, and therefore it is like a perched bird, waiting to leave again, and return. In the same sense as hope being bonded with a human's soul, Dickinson sees that birds are similarly close to humans, and therefore, they too can nest in the human soul and share in its compassion. Hope is then related to a bird's vocals in terms of longevity, it: "sings the tune without the words, / And never stops at all" (4). Dickinson describes how a bird's singing is so fascinating because it is purely instrumental; it has no lyrics or words, and yet it can say so much. Hope too takes advantage of this, and while hope can't exactly be put into words; all a person needs to do is experience hope to understand the meaning and message. The bird sings eternally, and it is clear that for Dickinson, hope is in some sense eternal. However, remember that hope simply "perches", so while the aid that it gives to the human soul may be "eternal" hope itself can still fly