Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.
Lines 9-10
I've heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
- In the final stanza, our speaker starts off by talking about Jamaica, or somewhere equally chill—maybe Hawaii or Tahiti.
- No wait—scratch that. As it turns out, "chill" actually meant "cold" back in Dickinson's day—imagine that. So, our speaker is not talking about a chill place to hang out and kick it. Instead, she means this more literally, as in the coldest place on Earth. Think the Arctic Circle… or Fargo.
- But don't think too literally here. She doesn't have a specific place in mind. The point is that our hope-bird's song can still be heard even in the worst of environments, when it seems like the world has gone cold or when everything seems strange.
- Even then, when all chips are down and things seem totally awful, that hope-bird just keeps tweeting away.
Lines 11-12
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.
- Our speaker can't help but pay the hope-bird one more compliment.
- To recap: this little dude is always there, singing his heart out, even—or especially—when times are rough. Only the most purely awful situations could throw this bird off its game.
- Here, the speaker references those really bad times with the word "Extremity."
- Now, this is a strange choice of words, we have to admit. To most folks, an extremity is an arm or a leg—something located at the extreme end of your body.
- Another way to think about this word, though, is as the extreme version of difficulty—in other words: the worst hard time.
- And now, here's one more thing that's great about the hope-bird: even when things are at their worst, it never asks anything in return. It's just there to help.
- Thanks, hope-bird. You truly are the best.