Hope is the thing with feathers

E86264

"Hope is the thing with feathers" is a widely anthologized lyric poem by Emily Dickinson that personifies hope as a resilient bird that endures through hardship.


Statements (47)

Predicate Object
instanceOf lyric poem
poem
anthologizedIn multiple poetry anthologies
author Emily Dickinson
authorGender female
authorNationality American
centralMetaphor hope as a bird
collectedIn posthumous editions of Emily Dickinson’s poems
countryOfOrigin United States of America
surface form: United States
describes hope as asking nothing in return
hope as enduring through hardship
hope as present in the soul
famousLine And never stops – at all –
And sings the tune without the words –
That perches in the soul –
“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
firstLine “Hope” is the thing with feathers –
form three quatrains
genre lyric poetry
hasTitlePunctuation quotation marks around the word Hope
imagery bird imagery
sea imagery
storm imagery
influence popular quotations about hope
language English
lineCount 12
literaryDevice extended metaphor
personification
meter common meter
movement American Romanticism
openingWord Hope
period 19th century American poetry
portrays hope as present in extreme hardship
hope as resilient in storms
rhymeScheme abcb
stanzaCount 3
subjectOf classroom study
literary criticism
theme comfort in adversity
hope
perseverance
resilience
tone optimistic
reassuring
usedIn motivational contexts
religious and spiritual discussions of hope
writtenBy Emily Dickinson

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Emily Dickinson notableWork Hope is the thing with feathers