When reading, “Hope” is the Thing with Feathers it reminded me that you have to always remember that there is hope no matter what. In the beginning it says, “Hope is the thing with feathers” (line 1) implying that hope is like a bird. When I hear that it makes me imagine that hope is like a bird because no matter what it goes through, it just keeps flying. It could be injured or 20 degrees and the bird would still try and find a way to fly somewhere. Then is states, “And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all -” (line 3, 4) backing up what I said that no matter happens to the bird, it is going to keep flying. They will continue to sing and fly because they have hope that everything will find a way to get better. This line When Dickinson starts this poem, she lets you know what is going on right away. With the first line being, “Because I could not stop for Death-“ (line 1) it gives you the general summary that this poem is going to be about death. Next, she sates “He kindly stopped for me” (line 2) and to me this made me imagine that it was like they were on a date. It’s easy to relate this poem to someone going out on some sort of date. In the next couple of lines she writes “The Carriage held but Ourselves- And Immorality” (line 3, 4) and these lines made me start to think that she is okay with the idea of death. She isn’t really freaking out about it she is just riding along with death. In lines 6 and 7 she is saying that she has given up everything to be on this date with death, kind of like you do when you start dating someone. For the next stanza she is describing they scenery that they are passing through and it set the tone to be relaxing and kind of beautiful. I enjoyed reading these lines because they really do help to set an image in your head so that you can be picturing everything that is going on in this date with death. Dickinson next writes “The Dews drew quivering and Chill- For only Gossamer, my Gown -”(line 14, 15) which is implying that the person in this story wasn’t properly prepared for this date because she is getting cold in the outfit that she is wearing. Stanza 5 lets us know that she is going to die. A house has been made up in the ground, like a hole you dig for a casket. In the final couple lines of the poem Dickinson states “Since then- ‘tis Centuries- and yet Feels shorter than the Day” (line 21, 22) and after reading those two lines you realize that this memory was from a long time ago but it seems like it just happened yesterday. This lines also relate back to it being like it was just any other date that someone would have had, it might have been one of the best or worst date,
The poem “Hope is the thing with feathers” states that hope is an ever-present force in one’s soul that sustains one through hard times, although it isn’t rational. This ideal of hope having ‘feathers’ and being the strength that keeps one going is seen throughout Of Mice and Men. Wishes sustain most of the characters, and although these dreams aren’t a concrete thing, they are still drawn to the possibility of a better life. Hope keeps people afloat in hard times, and gives them a reason for living. It’s best to view hope as the maiden in the tower-beautiful, yet unreachable. It’s something to aspire to, but hope can’t achieve anything without work. Hope is something everyone is drawn to, but is only hoping. Wishing doesn’t make things happen.
One primary element of death is the experience of dying. Many of of us are scared of the thought of death. When we stop and think about what death will be like, we wonder what it will feel like, will it be painful, will it be scary? In Emily Dickinson's poem Because I Could Not Stop for Death, she focuses on what the journey into her afterlife will be like. Dickinson uses the first person narrative to tell her encounter with death. The form that she uses throughout the poem helps to convey her message. The poem is written in five quatrains. Each stanza written in a quatrain is written so that the poem is easy to read. The first two lines of the poem, “Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me;” (Clugston 2010), gives you a clear view of what the poems central theme is. Unlike most poems that are about death, Dickinson's attitu...
Moore begins the last stanza with an ambiguous “So”. Although one has a heightened awareness of mortality, one “behaves,” one keeps the ego disciplined. This is the same concept as that of the caged bird who, though held captive in a cruelly small space, continues to sing with all his heart. Despite the bird's lack of “satisfaction” because of his loss of flight and freedom, he knows “joy”.
Dickinson 's poem uses poetic devices of personification to represent death, she represents death as if it were a living being. Dickinson 's capitalization of the word “DEATH”, causes us to see death as a name, in turn it becomes noun, a person, and a being, rather than what it truly is, which is the culminating even of human life. The most notable use of this, is seen in the very first few lines of the poem when Dickinson says “Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me”. In her poem Dickinson makes death her companion, as it is the person who is accompanying her to her grave. She states that death kindly stopped for her and she even goes as far as to give death the human ability to stop and pick her up. The occasion of death through Dickinson use of personification makes it seem like an interaction between two living beings and as a result the poem takes on a thoughtful and light hearted tone. The humanization of death makes the experience more acceptable and less strange, death takes on a known, familiar, recognizable form which in turn makes the experience more relatable. As the poem
The turning point happens in the fourth stanza and the tone of the speaker changes. In first three stanzas, the feeling of the speaker is comfortable and calm while staying with death; but in the fourth stanza, she seems to become a little bit nervous. The closer she gets to the destination, the more nervous she seems to be. “The Dews drew quivering and chill-/For only Gossamer, my Gown-/My Tippet-only Tulle-” (Dickinson lines 14-16) After passing the speaker’s different stages of life, death and the speaker enter a strange place that is cold, wet and dark. The speaker complains that her clothes are unable to keep her away from the coldness and the dewdrop, which indicates that she is not brave enough to face her destination of the trip. Even
Dickinson's poetry is both thought provoking and shocking. This poem communicates many things about Dickinson, such as her cynical outlook on God, and her obsession with death. It is puzzling to me why a young lady such as Emily Dickinson would be so melancholy, since she seemed to have such a good life. Perhaps she just revealed in her poetry that dark side that most people try to keep hidden.
He is almost sleeping while doing this. This creates a very powerful visual image. It epitomizes how the people left to grieve act. Many people stricken by death want to be left alone and bottle themselves up. The first few lines of the poem illustrate how deeply in sorrow the man is. This image should affect everyone. It should make the reader sympathize or even empathize with the man. Another main way he uses imagery is through the black bird or the raven. The presence of the bird is a bad omen. It is supposed to be followed by maleficent things. The bird is used to symbolize death figuratively and literally. The bird only says one word the entire poem. It repeats “nevermore.” This word can be interpreted multiple ways each time it is said. It is also possible that the bird is not talking. It is possible that the bird is an image created by
There is probably no one, among people, who has not considered death as a subject to think about or the events, people, and spirits that they would face after death. Also, since we were little kids we were asking our parents what death is and what is going to happen after we die. People have always linked death with fear, darkness, depression, and other negative feelings but not with Emily Dickinson, who was a reclusive poet from Massachusetts who was obsessed with death and dying in her tons of writings. She writes “Because I could not stop for Death” and in this particular poem she delivers a really different idea of death and the life after death. In the purpose of doing that, the speaker encounters death which was personalized to be in a form of gentleman suitor who comes to pick her up with his horse-drawn carriage for a unique death date that will last forever. In fact, she seems completely at ease with the gentleman. Additionally, their journey at the beginning seems pretty peaceful; as they pass through the town, she sees normal events such as children who are playing, fields of grain, and a sunset. After this, dusk takes place and the speakers gets chilly because she was not ready for this journey and she did not wear clothes that would make her feel warm. Consequently, readers get the idea that death is not a choice, so when it comes, that is it. Emily Dickinson, in her poem “Because I could not stop for Death,” uses personification, imagery, and style to deliver her positive and peaceful idea of death and life after death.
She chooses this arrangement of verse in order to ordain a religious aspect into the poem, which does well to suite the theme and what she is fond of. As the recollection of the speaker’s death progresses, Dickinson uses the stanzas to mark the stages of the
Dickinson doesn’t have the speaker complain about dying and be trying to avoid it instead she is calm and just riding along with death. She sort of goes on a date with him and is driving around taking their time to get wherever they need to go. When you get to the end you realize that she is already dead, and that’s why she wasn’t fighting it, because she was already there. The speaker had come to terms with what had happened and was reliving the moment when it happened. As one would expect, dealing with death, it was darker than her poem about hope. This poem was really able to capture emotion of death and portray it in an easy way to
In “Hope is the Thing with Feathers,” the message delivered is that hope is present to any person. Dickinson writes, “And sweetest in the gale is heard,” (5) which displays an image of a bird’s song being heard above the sounds of the storm. This shows how even in the worst situations one can look forward to the future where all this persons problems are resolved. Hope is the most beneficial when it is needed most. Therefore, it is available to anyone no matter who they are or how they live. In this poem, the speaker says, “yet, never, in extremity, / it asked a crumb of me” (11-12). If a person hopes for something, he or she doesn’t need to offer anything in return for what hope has given them. By using a crumb as an example of how hope comes without any pay, it is shown that “hope” does not need even the smallest possible reward for the good that it brings. It is a feeling and therefor, appeals to everyone.
Imagery is a big component to most works of poetry. Authors strive to achieve a certain image for the reader to paint in their mind. Dickinson tries to paint a picture of ?death? in her own words. Thomas A. Johnson, an interpretive author of Dickinson's work, says that ?In 1863 Death came into full statue as a person. ?Because I could not stop for Death? is a superlative achievement wherein Death becomes one of the greatest characters of literature? (Johnson). Dickinson's picture to the audience is created by making ?Death? an actual character in the poem. By her constantly calling death either ?his? or ?he,? she denotes a specific person and gender. Dickinson also compares ?Death? to having the same human qualities as the other character in the poem. She has ?Death? physically arriving and taking the other character in the carriage with him. In the poem, Dickinson shows the reader her interpretation of what this person is going through as they are dying and being taken away by ?Death?. Dickinson gives images such as ?The Dews drew quivering and chill --? and ?A Swelling of the Ground --? (14, 18). In both of these lines, Dickinson has the reader conjure up subtle images of death. The ?quivering an chill? brings to the reader's mind of death being ...
Dunbar shows the bird appealing to a higher power with the lines” It is not a carol of joy or glee, but a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core”, the bird is signing a prayer to be
This also conveys a sense of anger and fear, almost pessimism . In Emily Dickinson’s poem, Dickinson uses metaphors in the opposite way. The line “Hope is a thing with feathers-” (1) is also an indirect metaphor. The line is referring to hope as a bird. This line is important because birds are meant to fly, not be stuck on the ground.
bird as the metaphor of the poem to get the message of the poem across