Reading the Classics discussion

By Emily Dickinson.

I had to memorize and recite this lovely verse in high school. My experience with this poem has been life changing. Do you agree with her description of hope? What do you think if the last two lines?

"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."

I think it's a fine description of hope.

They may seem delicate, but birds are survivors.

Good thing, too: the absence of hope is despair.

I agree. She points out that something bad enough to destroy all hope must be pretty extreme, as it is such a survivor.

Tia wrote: "I agree. She points out that something bad enough to destroy all hope must be pretty extreme, as it is such a survivor."

Oh, by the way, you can hear an excellent recitation of this poem by the playwright David Henry Hwang on the Poetry Out Loud website. I always think poetry is best listened to -- it's the music of language after all! I bet you'll enjoy it. Just scroll down to "Poetry Out Loud" on this page:
http://jstevensonstories.blogspot.com...

It's neat that Hope is a bird, because they are so unique in the animal kingdom. They can fly to places others can't reach. Some can fly for extreme lengths of time without having to stop on land or water. They are resilient and usually very devoted to their young (although I suppose that depends on the species). And how many of us have seen the first robin of spring or heard a happy birdsong and been cheered by it?

I love this poem, it’s one of my favorites.

Hope has no limits, no restrictions, it doesn’t care about race, sex, social status or education, it’s born inside us, and no one, absolutely no one, can take it away from us (not without our consent).

Emily Dickinson say that hope is “the thing with feathers ”, and I think it’s a beautiful metaphor. Birds are small animals, but resistant. Their singing cheer us up, it announces spring, and remind us that after winter, any kind of winter, spring will inevitably arrive.

The same way stars shine brighter in a dark night, hope sings “sweetest” in our darkest moments, and many times, its music is the only thing that can help us to keep despair at bay.

Tia asked what we thought about the last two lines, to me those verses are about the boundless strength and generosity of hope. Birds don’t need much food to survived, any crumb will do. Hope can also survive in the most dire circumstances, it can survived when everything is against her, when the future seems as dark as a moonless night, and we know that nothing will ever be as good as it was before.
Even in these cases we can still feel a small string of hope that keeps humming in our head, saying that things will, eventually, get better, that tomorrow will be easier than today, and we don’t need to pay anything for this little crumb, it’s always at our disposal because the human heart and spirit has unlimited resources of hope.

In the worst day of my life, I recited this poem in my head over and over again. The words did not produced any miracle that made everything all right again, but it help me to endure that day, and the others that follow, and to believe that with time my family life will be Ok again.

I guess this is the reason why I love this poem so much, because it is more than just words put together in a harmonious form, it has the power to make us believe in Hope, and considering how the world is today, we really need to believe that tomorrow will be better.

Elsa, you've brought to life the line: "And sweetest in the gale is heard". Hope really is found in the darkest times of life, since that is when we need it most.

I always think of Anne Frank and her diary; Anne's little bird of hope sings in some of those pages, along with her sorrows. And even though she died at 15 in Bergen-Belsen, her diary still offers hope to millions.

One of the hardest realizations to reach in life is that we are mortal. But Death is not the enemy of Hope--Despair is. This is my favorite Anne Frank quotation, since "Hope" comes to me through the natural world--Emily's small bird and for me, the trees.

"The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature, and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be…As long as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that there will always be comfort for every sorrow. I firmly believe that nature brings solace to all troubles."

I read Anne Frank’s Diary so many years ago that I can’t remember much besides the main story. I really need to re-read the book.

The last book I read about hope, strength of mind and of convictions was "Long walk to freedom", from Nelson Mandela. An amazing book.

Your last quotation is very beautiful. Who wrote it?

That's Anne :-) I had said "This is my favorite Anne Frank quotation", but then put too many words after that lol. Anne could only see out her small window--but her chestnut tree is famous for the hope it gave her.

The tree itself fell in 2010, but saplings from it were sent all over the world. http://annefrank.com/the-sapling-proj...

And so hope continues to spread.

:) LOL!!! OK you convince me I'll re-read the book in the near future (after Peter Pan).

(I heard about the death of the tree, it almost made me cry, but I like the idea of small Anna's trees spread throughout the world)