What can we learn from "Hope is the thing with feathers" by Emily Dickinson?

In this poem, Emily Dickinson characterizes hope as a bird. Nature metaphors, particularly involving birds and flowers, are common throughout her poetry.

Notice, though, how Hope is in quotation marks. This motif is also common in Dickinson's poetry and speaks to her sense of irony. The quotations question our understanding of hope and of how it operates in our lives.

The first two lines: "'Hope' is a thing with feathers / That perches in the...

In this poem, Emily Dickinson characterizes hope as a bird. Nature metaphors, particularly involving birds and flowers, are common throughout her poetry.

Notice, though, how Hope is in quotation marks. This motif is also common in Dickinson's poetry and speaks to her sense of irony. The quotations question our understanding of hope and of how it operates in our lives.

The first two lines: "'Hope' is a thing with feathers / That perches in the soul--". The fact that it has "feathers" makes Hope seem rather flimsy or whimsical, depending on one's reading, which could be optimistic or pessimistic. It "perches" in the soul, or sits there, reminding us that its presence is temporary but firm. The narrator continues with her description: "And sings the tune without the words -- / And never stops -- at all --". The tune does not have words. This could mean that the tune is easily recognizable without speech, like the song of a bird. Or, it could mean that Hope's tune is inarticulate. After all, one cannot really describe the nature of hope, or describe, during times of hardship, how things will improve.

In the second stanza, she gives Hope a character that is shy, lacking in courage:

And sweetest -- in the Gale -- is heard --

And sore must be the storm --

That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm --

In times of great difficulty, Hope is abashed; it retreats. Notice, however, that Hope is a "little Bird," something vulnerable and delicate. Yet, this "little" thing keeps "so many warm" with its song, which is the only thing that it offers in "the chillest land" or "on the strangest Sea."

Hope, however, asks for nothing in return for its presence ("Yet -- never -- in Extremity, / It asked a crumb -- of me"). 

The poem illustrates the importance of having hope, which is a simple virtue. Yes, it is a small and fragile thing, but it may be all that one has in times of great difficulty. This, I think, is the message in Dickinson's poem.