I have chosen this word as my ‘theme’ for 2019. Thank you 2018 for breaking open cages.
“Hope” Is The Thing With Feathers is one of the best known of Emily Dickinson’s poems. An extended metaphor, it likens the concept of hope to a bird that is permanently perched in the soul of every human. There it sings, never stopping in its quest to offer encouragement and inspiration.
“Hope” is the thing with feathers – (314)
“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 –
I’ve heard it in the chillest land –
And on the strangest Sea –
Yet – never – in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of me.
Source: The Poems of Emily Dickinson Edited by R. W. Franklin (Harvard University Press, 1999)
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