Dickinson compares hope with feather, because feathers are symbols of flying. Just like a bird hope flies in people’s mind. It enables a person to go wherever he/she cannot. For example, if you want to go somewhere and you do not afford going there, you can hope and think of being in that place. So, hope makes impossible things possible. Similar to a bird, hope has perches to sit on. Hope perches on our souls because souls are the homes for hope. The author explains that by saying, “ That perches in the soul.” It rests in our souls the way a bird rests on its perch. In the next line the author makes a very good point by saying, “ And sings the tune without the words,” If someone hopes day and night and there is a person next to him/her, the person will never know what the other person is hoping for. So, hope has no voice but it still sings like a bird. In fact, hope never stops from singing because no one is able to stop a person from thinking and hoping.
I the next stanza, Dickinson says, “And sweetest in the gale is heard;” Here she means that people hope and think more if they are at their hardest time of their life; just like a bird who flies all over when there is a storm, hope comes in people’s mind when there in trouble. In the next line Dickinson explains that it is not easy to kill or abash hope because no one is able to stop a person from hoping.
No matter where you are, hope still exists in your mind. As Dickinson says, “ I’ve heard it in the chilliest land, and on the strangest sea;” In this sentence there is an obvious similarity between birds and hope. Just like a bird hope exists everywhere. People can hope and thing even though they are on the farthest spot on the earth. In fact, hope is in its strongest form when people are away from their families and home. In the last two lines the author informs us that the bird of hope asks for no favor or price in return for its sweet songs.
In conclusion, the author made a very good choice by comparing hope with a bird because both have so many things in common. Both exist everywhere, both can fly, and both ask for no favor or price in return for their sweet songs.
