Sample Poetry Analysis 2

 3. There are many strategies by which poets increase the effect of their words and one of those is the repetition of words, images, sounds and the like. In the work of ONE poet you have studied, show how various kinds of repetition have allowed poets to heighten their meaning.


    In Emily Dickinson's poem "Hope" is the thing with feathers, she uses tsymbolism of a bird to represent hope; therefore, through this poem, the appearance of the bird became the repetition as the image of hope to highlight the theme. The first line "Hope is a thing with feathers" and the word "perches" in the second line, indirectly tells the reader that it is most likely to be a bird. Moving on to the second stanza, the author directly uses the word "bird" to provide what the hope is put into. In the third stanza, crumbs can be referred to what people normally feeds to the birds. In each stanza, Emily Dickinson continued mentioning the bird and how the bird acts to create a simile of the hope in different conditions. Emily Dickinson also repetitively uses words having the same meaning in the end of each stanza to show that hope is always there. In the first stanza, she wrote "never stops", in the second stanza she wrote "that kept so much warm", in the third and final stanza, she wrote "yet- never"; All of these repeating words meaning never highlights her idea on how hope is always something there to look up to. Another exactly same word being used is the word "And", it is being used linking four lines, to show that all of these qualities being wrote after the word and, is included in hope. How it sings, it never stops, it is sweetest in the Gale, and the storm must be in the storm. The repetition of the word "and" united the lines in different stanzas that are all supporting and are the details about the theme --hope. This repetition also creates a gradually built up sense of what hope is.
     Emily Dickinson also used words that are started in the letter s, for example, sweetest, sore, storm, soul, sings, strangest, this made the poem sounded more together and more harmonious. To highlight that hope often appear during difficulties, terrible situations are repeated through the poem separated in many of the lines. for example, "storm", "chillest land", "strangest sea" and "extremity". It shows that these situations are where she "heard" hope. Emily Dickinson's writing style is also very special in which she uses "-" to separate words in a sentence. In my opinion, it is a way to make the reader see more clearly on the important words and knowing the meanings more clearly, strongly, when they read slower because of the pause created using the dash. For example, "and never stops - at all -" this emphasizes that hope does not stop singing and giving her a sense that it is right there at all. Also, "And sweetest- in the Gale - is heard -" emphasizes that it is sweetest only in the gale, not in other conditions, but right in the gale, is where hope is being heard the loudest. 

“Hope” is the thing with feathers - 

RELATED POEM CONTENT DETAILS

“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.