Hope by Emily Dickinson
Why does Emily Dickinson use the dash?
To indicate interruption or abrupt shift in thought.
To keep a note of uncertainty . Dashes are fluid and indicate completion, at the same time it’s a way of being in uncertainty. Dashes lend into without cutting off meaning.
It reaches out yet holds at bay simultaneously.
The dash both joins sentences so that they have a boundary in common and resists that joining: it connects and separates.
It is a falling away, an indefinite rather than a definite end to a line.
Summary And Analysis Of 'Hope Is The Thing With Feathers'
Summary And Analysis Of 'Hope Is The Thing With Feathers'
In this poem, Dickinson is creating a metaphor of hope through a bird. The hope that is within the speaker is much like a bird that continues to fly inside her. While we may all experience some dark times, hope can offer some encouragement.
The poem opens with the line 'Hope is the thing with feathers'. This starts the comparison of a bird. The rest of the stanza reads: 'That perches in the soul/And sings the tune without words/And never stops-at all'. For the speaker, the hope that is inside continues to sing at all times. Even when there are no words to sing, the bird continues to create a song. For the speaker, hope stays present, always singing, always flying.
The second stanza creates some opposition for the bird (hope), but shows that hope can become strong in a storm. Dickinson writes, 'And sore must be the storm/That could abash the little bird/That kept so many warm'. In order for hope to feel abash or embarrassed, the storm would have to be very strong. It would only be the most severe storms that would affect the bird.
In the third stanza the poet says that Hope is present even in the darkest, coldest and strangest of places. Hope aids the soul,yet requires nothing in return .The symbol of the bird is used for Optimism.
To indicate interruption or abrupt shift in thought.
To keep a note of uncertainty . Dashes are fluid and indicate completion, at the same time it’s a way of being in uncertainty. Dashes lend into without cutting off meaning.
It reaches out yet holds at bay simultaneously.
The dash both joins sentences so that they have a boundary in common and resists that joining: it connects and separates.
It is a falling away, an indefinite rather than a definite end to a line.
Summary And Analysis Of 'Hope Is The Thing With Feathers'
Summary And Analysis Of 'Hope Is The Thing With Feathers'
In this poem, Dickinson is creating a metaphor of hope through a bird. The hope that is within the speaker is much like a bird that continues to fly inside her. While we may all experience some dark times, hope can offer some encouragement.
The poem opens with the line 'Hope is the thing with feathers'. This starts the comparison of a bird. The rest of the stanza reads: 'That perches in the soul/And sings the tune without words/And never stops-at all'. For the speaker, the hope that is inside continues to sing at all times. Even when there are no words to sing, the bird continues to create a song. For the speaker, hope stays present, always singing, always flying.
The second stanza creates some opposition for the bird (hope), but shows that hope can become strong in a storm. Dickinson writes, 'And sore must be the storm/That could abash the little bird/That kept so many warm'. In order for hope to feel abash or embarrassed, the storm would have to be very strong. It would only be the most severe storms that would affect the bird.
In the third stanza the poet says that Hope is present even in the darkest, coldest and strangest of places. Hope aids the soul,yet requires nothing in return .The symbol of the bird is used for Optimism.