THE ANALYSIS OF HOPE IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS

BY

FAJAR YULIA SIAHAAN 130721023

UNIVERSITY OF SUMATERA UTARA FACULTY OF CULTURE STUDIES

Hope is the thing with feathers is one of Emily Dickinsons poems. Emily is the greatest female American poet of the nineteenth century. She was born in Amherst, Massachusetts on December 10th, 1830. In teenage life, Emily was troubled from a young age by the deepening menace of death, especially the deaths of those who were close to her. When Sophia Holand her second cousin and a close friend grew ill from typhus and died in April 1844, Emily was traumatized. Thats why she developed into a private person or reclosed and avoided contact with people. Emily Dickinson died on May 15th, 1886 and after her death, Emilys sister, Lavinia, discovered many volumes of around 1800 poems by Emily. Many of her poems deal with themes of death and immortality, two recurring topics in letters to her friends. Emily Dickinsons poems are unique for the era. Emilys strange use of capital letters, her surprising imagery and puzzling word choice and word order make her poem unusual. She uses the minimum amount of words. Her dashes make her unique. Her lines are like clues to be figured out. This is why her poems were ignored during her lifetime, but now readers regard Emily as a very original. She uses analogy or parallel images to convey her thoughts. Based on explanation above, which said that Emilys poems are unique, the writer wants to analyze one of Emilys poems HOPE IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS

HOPE IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS 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, They could abash the little Bird, That kept so many warm Ive heard it in the chilliest landAnd on the strangest SeaYet, never, in Extremity It asked a crumb of Me

In the first line at the first stanza hope is the thing with feathers is metaphor. Metaphor is an implied comparison between two unlike things that actually have something important in common. In this line, hope is treated like a thing, it is feathers. Generally, feather is connected to bird, so hope is like a bird. Then, That perches in the soul, And sings the tune without the words, And never stops at all describe that hope is in our soul and never stop singing even it doesnt tell any single word. In the second stanza And sweetest in the gale is heard, And sore must be the storm, They could abash the little Bird, That kept so many warm explain that hope still heard although the gale and storm sore. Gale and storm are the repetition of meaning, it is supposed to people that can abash our hope like gale and storm abash the little bird, but hope can survive because it keeps so many warm. In the third stanza Ive heard it in the chilliest land- And on the strangest Sea- Yet, never, in Extremity, It asked a crumb of Me Emily told about her experience. It is marked with Ive heard it means Emily heard by herself that hope still survived in the chilliest land and on the strangest sea. Then, hope didnt ask the repayment even in extremity. Poem has four aspect, they are sense, feeling, tone and intention. The sense of this poem is hope that treated like a bird. The feeling of this poem is hope will never stop singing and keeping so many warm. The tone of this poem is the optimist, no matter in gale or storm, hope is heard. The intention of this poem is teaching us to never stop hoping because its in our soul and singing all the time although in gale or storm and never ask the repayment like the little bird. The conclusion of this poem, hope is frail, but it can survive in everything and it never fades even we cant see it because we can feel it by its singing in our soul. Then, in every stanza, Emily uses her unique style that explained above. She uses her dashes and unconventional capitalization.