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Hope Is the Thing with Feathers – 18 January 2008

Since ancient times, “hope” has been a popular subject.

Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher who is considered one of the greatest men in history, said “Hope is a waking dream.”

Alexander Pope, the greatest English poet and satirist of the early 1700’s, wrote the famous lines: “Hope springs eternal in the human breast; Man never is, but always to be blest.”

In this poem, Emily Dickinson compares “hope” to a “bird”:

Hope Is the Thing with Feathers
By Emily Dickinson
(10 December 1830 – 15 May 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;
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.

For a collection of poems and stories, visit:
http://www.all-creatures.org/poetrydir.html
 

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