Emily Dickinson Hope

What is hope? Hope is what gives someone the feeling that they still can succeed even when everything is against them. It gives someone the will to go on even when there is only a small chance. In the poem “Hope” the poet Emily Dickinson describes hope as an never ending greatness that “perches in the soul”, it’s inside you and keeps you warm. Hope can not be put down easily and never ask for anything even in tough times. In this poem, Emily Dickinson describes hope as a lively, confident bird that go against chillest land and strangest sea, you face in life while with the bird by your side through an extended metaphor of bird, imagery and structure of poem.

In the poem “Hope”, an extended metaphor is used to portray hope as a confident bird. In the first stanza she described hope as “the thing with feathers”. Throughout the poem hope is described as a bird “That perches in the soul”. In stanza two states that hope is in your soul and it’s enemy have to be strong in order to bash the little bird. The third stanza goes on and says that the bird of will always be singing joyfully even in tough times and it will never ask you for anything. Hope is free and no matter what happens it will never stop.

In stanzas two and three the image of a storm is brought up. In line five, “And sweetest in the Gale is heard”. Gale is a very strong wind like hurricanes and typhoons. The imagery of the storm helps the readers visualize the tough times people face in life and think of their own personal experience. In the lines nine and ten the poet brings up hard times once again when she writes, “I’ve heard it in the chillest land, And on the strangest sea”. Lines nine and ten of the poem enhance the reader’s thoughts of rough times like on stormy seas. It creates imagery of a ship on stormy seas for the