“ANALYZING AN ENGLISH POETRY”

Lecturer :

Kristanti Yuntoro Putri, M.Pd.

Arranged by :
Habib Maulana Assyauqi (19020230054)

KADIRI ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY OF KEDIRI

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
ENGLISH DEPARTEMENT
2021
 Hope

By Emily Dickinson - 1830-1886

“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.

ANALYSIS

Emily Dickinson wrote this poetry in 1862. In Physical analysis, this poetry word
count: 69; lines: 12; stanzas: 3. The theme of this poetry is “hope” or encouragement, it is
remind us that hope is something that lives inside us all. In this poetry, “hope” is an abstract
word its mean desire or trust, the writer use metaphor to describe “hope” as having a
characteristic of a bird, the living creature. Birds are often viewed as free and self-reliant, or a
symbols of spirituality.

Meanings of Stanza -1

“Hope” is the thing with feathers –

That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –

The writer presents hope as a creature with wings. She states that the hope sits in the
human’s soul and sings positivity even without using words and only using the tune. The
writer use metaphor to presenting it as a bird that never stops singing.

Meanings of Stanza -2

And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –

And sore must be the storm –
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm –
 The writer states that human struggle with the storm and illustrate it as the hope is
engraved so strong that we as humans keep moving forward to face all of the problems in
live. Its like a bird that will never stop singing even of the chaos hits them.

Meanings of Stanza -3

I’ve heard it in the chillest land –

And on the strangest Sea –
Yet – never – in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of me.

In this stanza, the writer states that the bird of hope never asks for even a breadcrumb
in return for its positivity. The poetry has observed this bird existing and singing in the
coldest places and the strangest waters. It can sign and be happy even in the most extreme
situation. This stanza gives meaning of hope that it stays alive even in the most extreme
situations.

The analysis of some of the literary devices used in the poem is given here.
Alliteration It refers to the repetition of the same consonant sounds occurring close together
in a row such as /h/ sound in “we have heard it in the chilliest land”. Then Consonance is the
repetition of consonant sounds, such as the sound of /th/ in “the tune without the words” and
the sound of /t/ in “that could abet the little bird.”. Then Assonance is the repetition of the
vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /i/ in “I’ve heard it in the chilliest land.”
Then Metaphor the writer has compared hope with “feathers”/ “bird” which shows how it
sings and gives courage to the spirit of a person. Then this poetry use Personification When
an inanimate object is given human characteristics or like In the first stanza, the writer
considers hoping a preacher that keeps on preaching and never stops. Then Imagery used to
make the readers perceive things through the five senses of sight such as “bird”, “feathers”,
“storm”, “land” and “sea.” Then Symbol the writer has used many symbols to show the
powerful impact of hope in our lives such as “Chilliest Sea” and “storm” symbolize struggles
in life.

The analysis of the devices used in the poem is stated here. Rhyme Scheme The
poem is structured into a quatrain and a sequence of three rhyming lines. Lines five to eight
are the quatrain whereas nine to twelve are three lines. The rhyme scheme is ABCB. The
second and fourth lines rhyme full except for the half rhyme in the first stanza, soul/all. The
rhyme follows the pattern ABAB, while the final stanza is rhymed ABBB, its like in
‘Extremity/sea/me’. The 2nd stanza—note the additional full rhyme of lines 1 and 3
(heard/bird) which helps tighten the mid section of the poetry.