Hope Is The Thing With Feathers Questions & Answers

Hi Everyone!! This article will share Hope Is The Thing With Feathers Questions & Answers.

This poem is written by Emily Dickinson. In my previous posts, I have shared the questions and answers of My Mother, The Further Vision and For God’s Sake Hold Thy Tongue so, you can check these posts as well.

Hope Is The Thing With Feathers Questions & Answers

Word Galaxy

• Gale – very strong wind
• Perches – alights
• Abash – make it keep quiet
• Sore – causing great pain
• Extremity – (here), it means the worst of the situations
• Chilliest land – (here), it means the most difficult circumstances

Question 1: Match the columns:

Question 2: Where does ‘hope’ reside?

Answer:  The poem is an extended metaphor and it personifies ‘hope’ as a bird. This little bird resides in human soul.

Question 3: Read the lines and answer the questions:
And sings the tune without the words-
And never stops-at all-

(a) If ‘hope’ is a bird, what do you think is the ‘tune’ that the bird sings?

Answer: Not only is hope a bird, but it can also sing melodious songs. It perches in the human soul and sings all the time. However, the song has no words or diction. It solely has a tune. But this time in itself is a pure feeling and a deep-seated longing that sprouts from the human soul.

(b) How does this ‘tune’ affect its listeners? Which line talks about how the bird makes people feel?

Answer: Hope keeps singing, relentlessly soothing the soul. It sings the sweetest when the going gets tough and the Game starts to Blow. When life gets difficult and obstacles are thrown our way, there is Hope, singing through the chaos and disorder.
‘That kept so warm’ is the line that talks about how the bird makes people feel.

(c) What is the speaker saying about ‘hope’ when she says that the bird never stops singing?

Answer: When the poet says that the bird never stops singing, she means that hope is omnipresent. It does not need a specific situation or time to make its presence felt. It rests in the human heart and springs to action when the going gets tough.

Hope Is The Thing With Feathers Questions & Answers

Question 4: When does the ‘tune’ sound more comforting than ever to its listeners? Why?

Answer: The tune of hope sounds more comforting than ever in times of difficulties when the Gale starts to blow. When life gets unbearable and newer challenges loom large, Hope soothes its listeners, singing through the chaos and mayhem.

Question 5: Is ‘hope’ hard to upset or disturb? Which lines tell us that?

Answer: Hope never gets upset or disturbed. The lines “yet, never, in Extremely, it asked a crumb-of me.” tell us this. The poet says that she has heard a bird during the hardest, coldest times when emotions are churning and life is difficult. But even when things are extreme, Hope is still there and never asks for anything.

Hope can give us the strength to carry on in the most adverse of conditions. Its songs can be heard, even as the storm rages on.

Question 6: Which lines tell us that the speaker has found hope in the most desperate of circumstances?

Answer: The lines, “And sweetest- in the Gale – is heard- And sore must be the storm” tell us that the speaker has found hope in the most desperate of circumstances.

Question 7: What is the emotion expressed by the speaker in the last two line? Why?

Answer: The speaker has heard the bird sing during the hardest, coldest times when emotions are churning and life surreal. But even when things are extreme, hope is still there and never asks for anything. She says this to show the perpetuity of hope. Hope exists in the cruelest of time, never asking anyone for anything in return.

So, these were Hope Is The Thing With Feathers Questions & Answers.