6 -POEM: "HOPE is the thing with feathers" by Emily Dickinson

Read the poem and answer the questions that follow.


"Hope is the thing with feathers"
Emily Dickinson

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.

ANSWER these questions and hand in to teacher in class:

1. What metric system is used?

2. How many stanzas are there?

3. What is the rhyme scheme?

4. There is also internal rhyme. Can you find them? Circle them with different colours.

5. What is "HOPE" metaphorically described to?

6. What elements are derived from religious items?

7. What feelings did this poem provoke in you?