“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. That's my favorite one. Her poetry is so full of life. It's like a hummingbird, it sort of flits here and there, and every once in a while it takes off somewhere else. Very whimsical and very original. Even her orthography is unique.
Someone once described Emily Dickinson as the poet of paradox, and I think that's very true. It's certainly hard to work out what she actually thought, she was very happy to code everything she thought, and she seemed to change her mind as she matured both as a poet and as a person. My question to you all is this: what do you think her position on religion was? I've read her a few times over the years, and I don't think I know.
The only poem I remember of hers was this: 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 as those that twice befell Parting is all we know of heaven And all we need of Hell. (This may not be exact, since I've written it from memory.)
