Guided Poetry Explication Name ______

“Hope is a thing with Feathers” – Emily Dickinson

1) Read the following poem quietly to yourself. Read the poem again, aloud this time.

“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- / 5
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- / 10
Yet, never, in Extremity
It asked a crumb -of Me.

6 sore: severe.

7 abash: to destroy the self-confidence, poise, or self-possession of;

11 Extremity: greatest need or peril

2) Identify terms, mark up and label the poem. Look for poetic and stylistic devices. You may want to use your “Poetry Terms” handout. Briefly explain in the margins of the poem - there should be writing all over this poem!

Look for/label/explain:

Ø  Identify structure, form, shape

Ø  Rhyme scheme?

Ø  Any “Significant” words- explain

Ø  Emotion/Feeling words (tone)

Ø  Figurative Language (simile, metaphor, personification)

Ø  Imagery (5 senses)

Ø  Sound devices

3) What poetic devices did you find? Name and list at least 3 of them. How/why are they effective at making the reader stop and take notice? What feelings/messages do they reveal to the reader?

1.______

2.______

3.______

4) Thematically, what is the poem about? Provide three examples to back up your claims (specific lines). How do these lines relate to or prove the theme that you have identified?

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______

______

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Emily Dickinson Poems

This is my Letter to the World

This is my letter to the World,
That never wrote to Me-
The simple News that Nature told-
With tender Majesty.

Her Message is committed 5
To Hands I cannot see-
For love of Her –Sweet- countrymen-
Judge tenderly -of Me

Success is Counted Sweetest

Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne’er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.
Not one of all the purple Host / 5
Who took the Flag today
Can tell the definition,
So clear of Victory,
As he defeated –dying-
On whose forbidden ear / 10
The distant strains of triumph
Break, agonized and clear!

My Life Closed Twice Before its Close

My life closed twice before its close; / -
It yet remains to see
If Immortality unveil
A third event to me
So huge, so hopeless to conceive / 5
As these that twice befell.
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell.

After Great Pain, a Formal Feeling Comes

After great pain, a formal feeling comes-
The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs-
The stiff Heart questions was it He, that bore,
And Yesterday, or Centuries before?

The Feet, mechanical, go round-
Of Ground, or Air, or Ought
A Wooden way
Regardless grown,
A Quartz contentment, like a stone-

This is the Hour of Lead-
Remembered, if outlived,
As Freezing persons recollect the Snow-
First-Chill-then Stupor-then the letting go-

I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died

I HEARD a fly buzz -when I died-
The Stillness in the Room
Was like the Stillness in the Air
Between the Heaves of Storm-
The Eyes around- had wrung them dry, / -5
And Breaths were gathering firm
For that last Onset, when the king
Be witnessed – in the Room-
I willed my Keepsakes- Signed away
What portion of me be / 10
Assignable—and then it was
There interposed a Fly-
With Blue -uncertain, stumbling Buzz, / -
Between the light - and me-
And then the Windows failed- and then / 15
I could not see to see-

Much Madness is Divinest Sense

Much madness is divinest Sense
To a discerning Eye-
Much Sense - the starkest Madness-
’Tis the Majority
In this, as All, prevail- / 5
Assent -and you are sane-
Demur—you ’re straightway dangerous, / -
And handled with a Chain-

Because I Could Not Stop for Death

Because I could not stop for Death-
He kindly stopped for me-
The Carriage held but just Ourselves
And Immortality.
We slowly drove- He knew no haste / 5
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For His Civility.
We passed the School, where Children / strove
At Recess- in the Ring- / 10
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain-
We passed the Setting Sun-
Or rather- He passed Us-
The Dews drew quivering and chill-
For only Gossamer, my Gown-
My Tippet- only Tulle-
We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground-
The Roof was scarcely visible-
The Cornice- in the Ground-
Since then -’tis Centuries- and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses’ Heads
Were toward Eternity-