Department of English

Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University

 

"Hope is the thing with feathers—"

(1890)

 

Emily Dickinson

(December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886)



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 –
 5
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 – 10
Yet – never – in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of me.

 

 

Notes


7  abash: discompose, shake


11  in Extremity:




What was the United States like that Whitman and Dickinson were born into?
Source: Ed Folsom, Selected American Authors: Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman



EMILY DICKINSON is born in 1830, the year President Andrew Jackson signs the Great Removal act, forcibly resettling all Indians west of the Mississippi; Jackson addresses the nation, "What good man would prefer a country covered with forests and ranged by a few thousand savages to our extensive Republic, studded with cities, towns, and prosperous farms, embellished with all the improvements which art can devise or industry execute?" The Sac and Fox tribes, over objections of chief Black Hawk, give up all their lands east of Mississippi River ; Choctaws do the same; other tribes like Chickasaws follow suit within a year or two. Only the Cherokees, literate farmers who wanted citizenship, hold out. In 1832, Black Hawk leads some Sac and Fox back across Mississippi into Illinois --they are eventually ambushed and massacred in the Michigan Territory , and Black Hawk is turned over to U.S. authorities by the Winnebago Indians. Major Congressional debate is over whether or not the sale of Western lands should be restricted; Western senators sense a plot by Eastern business interests to close the West so that cheap labor stays in the Northeast where factories demand low-paid workers. Joseph Smith publishes "The Book of Mormon", based on his deciphering of golden plates he claimed to have found on an upstate New York mountain, detailing the true church as descended through American Indians who were apparently part of the lost tribes of Israel (an idea quite common in early 19th-century America). The next year, 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville arrives in the U.S. and begins his journey around the country that would result in his massive book of observations, "Democracy in America ," including his analysis of “the three races in America ” (black, red, and white). Nat Turner, a Virginia slave who had visions from God of white spirits and black spirits engaged in bloody combat, leads a revolt with seven other slaves, killing his master and his family; with 75 insurgent slaves, he killed more than 50 whites on a two-day journey to Jerusalem, Virginia, where he was hanged along with sixteen of his companions (many other blacks are killed during the manhunt for Turner). The Turner Insurrection was the stuff of nightmares for white Southerners, who passed increasingly severe slave codes. The song "America" is sung for the first time in Boston on July 4.

 


 



Poetry


If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can warm me I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only way I know it. Is there any other way?

—"Letter to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, August 16, 1870," The Letters of Emily Dickinson, edited by Thomas H. Johnson and Theodora Ward, Belknap P, 1958.

 




Dickinson’s editing process often focused on word choice rather than on experiments with form or structure. She recorded variant wordings with a “+” footnote on her manuscript. Sometimes words with radically different meanings are suggested as possible alternatives. [...] Because Dickinson did not publish her poems, she did not have to choose among the different versions of her poems, or among her variant words, to create a "finished" poem.  This lack of final authorial choices posed a major challenge to Dickinson’s subsequent editors.

—"Diction," Major Characteristics of Dickinson's Poetry, Emily Dickinson Museum (2009)



Poems (1891)

 

manuscript
 “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.		 1
2
3
4

5
6
7
8

9
10
11
12

           


 




Poems


791


God gave a Loaf to every Bird —
But just a Crumb — to Me —
I dare not eat it — tho’ I starve —
My poignant luxury —

To own it — touch it —
Prove the feat — that made the Pellet mine —
Too happy — for my Sparrow’s chance —
For Ampler Coveting —

It might be Famine — all around —
I could not miss an Ear —
Such Plenty smiles upon my Board —
My Garner shows so fair —

I wonder how the Rich — may feel —
An Indiaman — An Earl —
I deem that I — with but a Crumb —
Am Sovereign of them all —




5





10





15

 

—Emily Dickinson, “God gave a Loaf to every Bird —,” The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, edited by Thomas H. Johnson, Little, Brown, 1960, p. 386.


690


Victory comes late —
And is held low to freezing lips —
Too rapt with frost
To take it —
How sweet it would have tasted —
Just a Drop —
Was God so economical?
His Table’s spread too high for Us —
Unless We dine on tiptoe —
Crumbs — fit such little mouths —
Cherries — suit Robins —
The Eagle’s Gold Breakfast strangles — Them —
God keep His Oath to Sparrows —
Who of little Love — know how to starve —




5





10

 

—Emily Dickinson, “Victory comes late —,” The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, edited by Thomas H. Johnson, Little, Brown, 1960, p. 340.


579


I had been hungry, all the Years —
My Noon had Come — to dine —
I trembling drew the Table near —
And touched the Curious Wine  —

’Twas this on Tables I had seen —
When turning, hungry, Home —
I looked in Windows, for the Wealth
I could not hope — for Mine —

I did not know the ample Bread —
’Twas so unlike the Crumb
The Birds and I, had often shared
In Nature’s — Dining Room —

The Plenty hurt me — ’twas so new —
Myself felt ill — and odd —
As Berry — of a Mountain Bush —
Transplanted — to the Road —

Nor was I hungry — so I found
That Hunger — was a way
Of Persons outside Windows —
The Entering — takes away —




5





10





15





20

 

—Emily Dickinson, “I had been hungry, all the Years —,” The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, edited by Thomas H. Johnson, Little, Brown, 1960, p. 283.


 
Letters


To T. W. Higginson

15 April 1862


Mr. Higginson,

Are you too deeply occupied to say if my Verse is alive?

The mind is so near itself—it cannot see, distinctly—and I have none to ask—

Should you think it breathed—and had you the leisure to tell me, I should feel quick gratitude—

If I make the mistake—that you dared to tell me—would give me sincerer honor—toward you—

I enclose my name—asking you, if you please—Sir—to tell me what is true?

That you will not betray me—it is needless to ask—since Honor is it's [sic] own pawn—


—Emily Dickinson, Selected Letters, edited by Thomas H. Johnson, Belknap P, 1971, p. 171.



To T. W. Higginson

25 April 1862


Mr. Higginson

Your kindness claimed earlier gratitude—but I was ill—and write today, from my pillow.

Thank you for the surgery—it was not so painful as I supposed. I bring you others—as you ask—though they might not differ—

While my thought is undressed—I can make the distinction, but when I put them in the Gown—they look alike, and numb.

You asked how old I was? I made no verse—but one or two—until this winter—Sir—

I had a terror—since September—I could tell to none—and so I sing, as the Boy does by the Burying Ground—because I am afraid—You inquire my Books—For Poets—I have Keats—and Mr and Mrs Browning. For Prose—Mr Ruskin—Sir Thomas Browne—and the Revelations. I went to school—but in your manner of the phrase—had no education. When a little Girl, I had a friend, who taught me Immortality—but venturing too near, himself—he never returned—Soon after, my Tutor, died—and for several years, my Lexicon—was my only companion—Then I found one more—but he was not contented I be his scholar—so he left the Land.

You ask of my Companions Hills—Sir—and the Sundown—and a Dog—large as myself, that my Father bought me—They are better [end of page 172] than beings—because they know—but do not tell—and the noise in the Pool, at Noon—excels my Piano. I have a Brother and Sister—My Mother does not care for thought—and Father, too busy with his Briefs—to notice what we do—He buys me many Books—but begs me not to read them—because he fears they joggle the Mind. They are religious—except me—and address an Eclipse, every morning—whom they call their "Father." But I fear my story fatigues you—I would like to learn—Could you tell me how to grow—or is it unconveyed—like Melody—or Witchcraft?

You speak of Mr Whitman—I never read his Book—but was told that he was disgraceful—

I read Miss Prescott's "Circumstance," but it followed me, in the Dark—so I avoided her—

Two Editors of Journals came to my Father's House, this winter—and asked me for my Mind—and when I asked them "Why," they said I was penurious—and they, would use it for the World—

I could not weigh myself—Myself—

My size felt small—to me—I read your chapters in the Atlantic—and experienced honor for you—I was sure you would not reject a confiding question—

Is this—Sir—what you asked me to tell you?

Your friend,

E—Dickinson.


—Emily Dickinson, Selected Letters, edited by Thomas H. Johnson, Belknap P, 1971, p. 172–73.



 

 

Study Questions

  • Look up some words that seem to have idiosyncratic meanings for Dickinson. Go to the Hyper-Concordance to the Works of Emily Dickinson and consider her uses of some of the following terms. What is the difference between dictionary definitions and Dickinson's meanings?
    • bird(s)
    • crumb(s)
    • hope
    • soul
    • stop(s, -ed)
    • thing
  • Aside from specific words, notice as well how Dickinson expresses ideas via groups of imagery and categories of metaphor. Look, for instance, at some of the following clusters of ideas and tropes. Explain how the metaphors and imagery suit Dickinson's ideas.
    • Food imagery
    • Eating
    • Coldness
    • Quantity
    • Size
    • The speaker/persona
    • Time
  • How is hope portrayed in the first stanza? What qualities are stressed?
  • How has the portrayal of hope changed in the second stanza?
  • How does the etymological meaning of abashed clarify the sense of hope depicted in this middle stanza?
  • What does the poem suggest might threaten hope? Can hope be threatened if it "never stops — at all" (l. 4)?
  • In what way does "so many" at the end of stanza 2 set up the introduction of "I" in stanza 3?
  • How personal or impersonal is the declaration "I've heard it in the chillest land — / And on the strangest Sea —" (ll. 9–10)?
  • What effect does "Yet" have in the sense of personal or impersonal in the last two lines? What turn, so to speak, does the conjunction announce?
  • What difference, if any, is there in the sense of never in the first stanza compared to in the last?
  • How do the dashes and line breaks shape the rhythm of the text and affect the meaning of the poem?
  • Examine the curious last line.
    • Why is the verb ask used? Since "the thing with feathers" is hope, why does it not give rather than ask for?
    • Why is it significant to the speaker that "the little Bird" "never" asked for a crumb?
    • What do you make of the result of the build-up of the poem that it culminates with "of me"? What point is being conveyed by the speaker specifically stating that he/she personally has never been asked for even a small bit of crumb from "hope"?
    • How are we to read this last line? Which sense does the poem suggest?
      • Hope has never visited me.
      • Even in the direst, utmost of circumstances that could endanger it, hope has never deigned/seen fit to come find any small resources from me.
      • Hope does not want or require any payment or nourishment for itself. For hope to exist, there is no need to feed it or to give it anything in return.

            



Vocabulary

fascicle
lyric
diction; denotation, connotation
ambiguity
definition; definition poem
irony
pathos
logos
form
stanza
meter; common meter
rhyme
repetition
punctuation; dash
imagery
metaphor
tone
theme

 

 

 


Sample Student Responses to Emily Dickinson's "'Hope' is the thing with feathers —"


Response 1: 

 

           



 

Reference

 

Link
Texts Secondary Texts Textual Criticism
 Resources

 


 

Emily Dickinson

 


Reference

Dickinson, Emily. The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Edited by Thomas H. Johnson. Little, Brown, 1960.

 


Further Reading

Dickinson, Emily. The Letters of Emily Dickinson. Ed. Thomas H. Johnson. Cambridge: Belknap, 1958. Print.

Eberwein, Jane Donahue, Stephanie Farrar, and Cristanne Miller, eds. Dickinson in Her Own Time: A Biographical Chronicle of Her Life, Drawn from Recollections, Interviews, and Memoirs by Family, Friends, and Associates. Iowa: U of Iowa P, 2015. Print.


Grabher, Gudrun, Roland Hagenbüchle, and Cristanne Miller, eds. The Emily Dickinson Handbook. Amherst: U of Massachusetts P, 1998. Print.


Griffith, Clark. The Long Shadow: Emily Dickinson's Tragic Poetry. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1964. Print.


Kirby, Joan. Emily Dickinson. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991. Print.

Martin, Wendy. The Cambridge Companion to Emily Dickinson. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2002. Print.


Martin, Wendy. The Cambridge Introduction to Emily Dickinson. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2007. Print.


Miller, Cristanne. Emily Dickinson: A Poet's Grammar. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1989. Print.


Miller, Cristanne. Reading in Time: Emily Dickinson in the Nineteenth Century. Amherst: U of Massachusetts P, 2012. Print.


Mitchell, Domhnall. Emily Dickinson: Monarch of Perception. Amherst: U of Massachusetts P, 2000. Print.


Sewall, Richard B. The Life of Emily Dickinson. New York: Farrar Straus and Giroux, 1974. Print.


Smith, Martha Nell, and Mary Loeffelholz, eds. A Companion to Emily Dickinson. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2008. Print.


Socarides, Alexandra. Dickinson Unbound: Paper, Process, Poetics. Oxford: OUP, 2014. Print.


 



 

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Last updated August 31, 2020