Stanza 1 Summary

Lines 1-2

"Hope" is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -

• Our speaker starts off on a hopeful note. She's not just being optimistic here. She's literally talking about hope.
• Speaker note: we're just guessing that our speaker is a she at this point, since we've just read one word of this poem. Check out "Speaker" for more details.
• Actually, she's talking about "Hope." What's up with those quotation marks?
• It's ambiguous. We have just read one single word at this point, so maybe things will clear up.
• For now, though, we can say that quotation marks can be a sign of sarcasm, as in the following sentence:
• I decided not to thank my dog Fido for his attempt to "redecorate" my living room by shredding all the couch cushions.
• When something is in quotation marks, it can also be thought of as an idea or a concept:
• This massage chair is bringing me the ultimate in "user centered" technology. 
• In this case, the latter explanation makes more sense. Our speaker probably wants us to think about the idea of hope—you know, not some woman named Hope.
• Okay, that was a lot to say about just one word. So what about "hope"?
• Well, it has feathers, apparently. It also "perches," which seals the metaphor: our speaker wants us to think of hope as a bird.
• Only, instead of a cage, this particular bird hangs out in the soul.
• That's one amazing bird. Let's see what else it can do…

Lines 3-4

And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -

• You know, this hope-bird just keeps impressing.
• The metaphor continues here, as our speaker tells us that this bird sings without words. That seems appropriate. We don't know too many birds that include lyrics with their songs.
• It does more than just sing, though. It sings without stopping… as in ever. Maybe it should get into the pop scene.
• But wait, this isn't just some big-lunged bird that likes to thing. Don't forget that we're in metaphor land here. The speaker is really talking about hope.
• By this token, hope is something that never stops singing. In other words, hope is a steady force. It's always there.
• Before we head off to the second stanza: did you hear any echoes in these lines?
• If you were listening closely, it might have sounded—almost—like line 2 rhymed with line 4. Was Dickinson just bad at rhyming words?
• Also, what's up with all these dashes? They're at the end of every line, and they also offset "at all" in line 4.
• You've got questions about the way this poem is put together? Don't worry—we've got lots more to say about all this kind of stuff over in "Form and Meter."