Emily Dickinson

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Emily Dickinson

• Hope is the thing with feathers -

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Introduction

• Ever since I first watched the movie The Birds
  by Alfred Hitchcock, I have had a bit of an
  aversion to the flying creatures. Circling
  seagulls set me off! But, when I feel most
  frightened by my friends, the birds, I need to
  read Emily Dickinsons poem Hope is the thing
  with feathers because analysis of this poem
  reminds me that, symbolically speaking, birds can
  be equated to HOPE!

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Hope is the thing with feathers -

• Hope 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
• Ive 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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Any Questions?

• Why do you think Dickinson compares hope to a
  bird?
• Birds remind me of my Grandma Fern she loves
  bird watching!
• Why do you think Dickinson uses the words the
  thing with feathers instead of a bird?
• Paraphrase the last stanza. What is Dickinson
  saying about her own experience with hope?
• I predict that Hitchcocks movie will be updated
  and filmed again.

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Concrete Images

• Feathers
• Tune
• Gale/Storm
• Bird
• Land
• Sea

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Abstract Images

• Hope
• Soul

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Analysis of Images

• Hope is a bird small and delicate, yet constant
  and indomitable.
• Hope perches on the soul and continuously, even
  in storms and gales, sings a wordless tune.
• Hope is heard in the chilliest land and on the
  strangest sea.

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Exact Rhyme

• Heard and bird
• Storm and warm
• Sea, extremity, and me

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Slant Rhyme

• Soul and all

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Theme

• You should never lose hope.
• Hope perches.
• Hope never stops at all
• Hope is always available, even during stormy
  times in your life.
• Hope never asks for anything in return Yet
  never, in Extremity,/It asked a crumb of Me.

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Figurative Language

• Metaphor Hope is the thing with feathers.
• Personification Hope perches, sings, and asks.
• Consonance the s sound throughout the poem.
  This reinforces the calming effect of hopes
  constancy. It might represent the sound of a
  slight wind holding that bird in flight.
• Assonance sore, storm, and warm. The o sound
  suggests the long trying times in life.
• Alliteration strangest seaagain the calming
  s sound.

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Conclusion

• Life is for the birds! This idiom usually
  has a negative connotation associated with it,
  but not after reading Emily Dickinsons poem
  Hope is the thing with feathers. According to
  Dickinson, life should be for the birds because
  birds, metaphorically speaking, represent hope.
  Hence, life is for those who hope!