What metaphors are in "Hope is the Thing with Feathers" and what do they express?
In “Hope is the Thing with Feathers,” Emily Dickinson creates a lovely extended metaphor that compares hope to a bird. Metaphors are designed to compare something lessor known to the audience, like hope, with something that is well known, like a bird.
So let's see what the metaphor of the bird can tell us about hope. First, hope “perches in the soul” (line 2). It is internal, in the spiritual part of the human being. And like a bird, hope sings without words and does not stop. This is true. Hope, when firmly entrenched in a soul, creates a music of sorts, not necessarily with words, that allows a person to face the most difficult trials with confidence and endurance and even cheerfulness.
The speaker refers to those hard times in the next stanza when she compares them to a gale or storm. The little bird that is hope sings...
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most sweetly during the worst experiences. It remains sure that the storm will end and that better days will arrive, and this certainty warms the soul, which clings to the sweetness of the song, which is stronger now because it is needed more.
The final stanza identifies two more situations in which the speaker hears the singing of the little bird, hope: “the chillest land” and “the strangest Sea” (lines 10–11). We don't know exactly what these two images describe, but our imaginations might fill in the details. The “chillest land” might refer to a time when a person is isolated, misunderstood, cut off from others, and cold at heart with loneliness. Yet hope still sings. The “strangest Sea” might refer to moments when everything in life seems upside down and we don't know what to expect. Yet hope still sings.
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What is the theme of "Hope is the Thing With Feathers"?
The major theme of the poem is that in the human heart, hope endures, defeating despair despite overwhelming circumstances. Hope "perches" in our soul, ever present. It prevails even when there is no cause or reason to be hopeful:
And sings the tune without the words--
And never stops--at all--
Dickinson emphasizes that hope endures under the most difficult circumstances by extending her metaphor. She has heard the little bird's song "in the chillest land" and "on the strangest Sea." Even in times of greatest challenge, according to Dickinson, hope sustains us, keeping us warm. She does not take the position that hope is beyond defeat, but she maintains that it would require the very worst kind of storm to "abash the little Bird."
In "Hope is the Thing With Feathers," what are the conflict and theme?
The conflict between hope and despair is implied in the poem. Hope is examined through the metaphor of a little bird that "perches in the soul" and sings without stopping, even without reason or support. The song of hope sounds "sweetest" during the storm; hope is so strong that it cannot be expunged, except perhaps by the worst of storms. Through the extension of the metaphor, hope can overcome despair during the worst of times, "in the chillest land" and "on the strangest sea."