Hope Is the Thing with Feathers
Hope Is the Thing with Feathers - context Summary
Written 1861, Published 1891
Written in 1861 and published posthumously in 1891 in Poems by Emily Dickinson, Second Series, this short lyric uses a sustained bird metaphor to investigate the nature of hope. Dickinson, working in seclusion, treats hope as an internal, persistent force that endures storms and extremes without demanding anything in return. The poem’s spare diction and compact stanzas reflect her characteristic compression and introspective focus. No specific occasion is recorded; instead it aligns with her broader practice of transforming abstract emotional states into vivid, tangible imagery.
Read Complete AnalysesHope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul And sings the tune without the words And never stops at all And sweetest in the Gale is heard And sore must be the storm That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm I’ve heard it in the chillest land And on the strangest Sea Yet, never, in Extremity, It asked a crumb of Me.
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