1/21/2021 Print version of Hope is the thing with feathers (254)

Published on Academy of American Poets (https://poets.org)

Hope is the thing with feathers (254)

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.

Credit

This poem is in the public domain.

Author

Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830, in Amherst, Massachusetts. While she was
extremely prolific as a poet and regularly enclosed poems in letters to friends, she was not
publicly recognized during her lifetime. She died in Amherst in 1886, and the first volume of her
work was published posthumously in 1890.

Date Published: 1890-01-01

Source URL: https://poets.org/poem/hope-thing-feathers-254

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