"Hope" is the thing with feathers'

Synopsis

In this poem, Dickinson paints the abstract concept of “Hope” as a bird that resides within humans at all times, regardless of difficulties. The bird sings on and “never stops at all,” persisting in the face of adversity. Dickinson expands on this metaphor by describing the perseverance of this bird in both the “sweetest – in the Gale” and the strongest “storm.” Hence, this poem suggests that “Hope” is generous – it gives without asking anything in return. It can be argued that this poem also serves to portray the power of faith in liberating the soul.

Analysis

This is another poem in which Dickinson celebrates the sublime beauty of nature which breathes life into the mundane. She draws direct links between the human spirit and hope in defining the “soul” as a home for hope where it “perches.” In this, Dickinson highlights the infinite capacity for hope in the human experience. Furthermore, the use of the verb “perches,” coupled with the verb “sings,” alludes to birdsong, transforming the abstract concept of hope into a tangible, audible, and endearing metaphor of a bird. This conceit, developed in the very first line as she describes hope as “the thing with feathers,” allows for a slight conceptual distance in the abstract nature of hope. However, she does not directly state that “Hope” is a bird – merely a “thing” that has feathers, enabling the reader to imagine their own bird or feathered thing. This furthers the idea that hope is often a subtle, almost indistinguishable concept in life, which fuses into the everyday experience. This mysterious opening also allows for the interpretation that often people cannot fully visualise or understand their capacity for hope.

The poem makes use of anaphora in lines 7 and 8, which infuse the poem with a sense of relentless perseverance. The repeated “that” allows the poem a sense of persistence which grounds the poem in this idea of unchanging resilience. Anaphora and polysyndeton contribute to at least two thirds of the poem’s structure. Unlike other poems by Dickinson, which are peppered with caesura and enjambment, these poetic devices and the resulting repetition are used deliberately to lend this poem a structurally sound foundation, reflecting on the strength of hope. Thus, the core structure of the poem itself reflects the ideas of resilience and perseverance.

Furthermore, this poem retains a rather regular rhythm, with the meter alternating between iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter. This regular, undisturbed meter lends the poem a lyrical, musical sense. Thus, the poem mirrors the idea of birdsong that Dickinson deconstructs in her developed conceit.
 
However, the first line disturbs this gentle rhythm, forcing it to stand out. It begins with a trochee, placing a heavy emphasis on “Hope,” which further cements this as the focal point of the poem. The final foot of this line is also missing a stressed syllable, making it catalectic.These subtle changes differentiate this line from the rest of the poem, drawing attention to this introduction of the central metaphor for “Hope.”

As she weaves an element of Romantic sublimity through the tapestry of human life, Dickinson celebrates the simplicity of existence, drawing parallels between the beauty of natural processes and the ephemeral nature of human life. In ‘“Hope” is the thing with feathers,’ she constructs a vivid depiction of the sublimity of experience. The airy fricative and elongated sibilance in “feathers” evokes a palpable, diaphanous touch, exploding a tangible sensory tenderness, saturating the poem with a gentle, Romantic atmosphere. As such, she explores the human experience as a thing of tranquil beauty, borrowing from the fabric of Romanticism.

The elongated vowels and assonance in the phrase “tune without the words” further establishes a leisurely movement through the iambic meter, evoking an atmosphere of unimpeded peace. The ebbing flux constructed in the gentle lyricism and euphonic rhyme of “warm” and “storm,” as well as “Sea” and “Me” establishes a lingering parallel to the unobstructed flow of natural processes, which coaxes the human spirit and colours it with a sustained hopefulness. She paints the image of a free bird, and by extension, the liberated human spirit in the grounded simplicity of mortality. The sibilance of “sore” and “sweetness” used to examine the deeper mores of the natural world carries a note of ethereal duality, suggesting even nature experiences its own innate fluctuation of sensation, similar to the unpredictable wavering of human sensory experience. Dickinson makes use of pathetic fallacy to paint emotional turmoil, alluding to moments of adversity as a “storm.” As such, the poem is given an additional layer of depth that ties it to the natural world. The visceral, melodic birdsong further alludes to an emotional, Romantic engagement with life, which “never stops at all,” suggesting the relationship between humanity and nature is one that withstands time.

Links to other poems by Dickinson

Dickinson’s ‘“Hope” is the thing with feathers’ explores a visceral link between the human experience and the natural world through her developed metaphor of “Hope” as a bird. Similarly, her poem ‘There’s something quieter than sleep’ observes the link between humanity and nature, as it transforms the body into a medium for the natural. The symbolism of the “quiet fairy” and its return to the “native wood” envisions the return of the soul to nature, facilitated by decay. Here, she transforms decay into a beautiful transition to the tranquillity of nature, drawing from the growing intellectual fabric of Transcendentalism. As such, in both poems, Dickinson colours the natural world with an alluring charm, suggesting it breathes life into the most mundane mores of existence.