Choose either of these prompts and use the comment box to answer:
1. "'Hope' is the thing with feathers" (anthology p. 210-11) and "It feels a shame to be alive" (p.210) were both composed during the Civil War, but the 1st is from 1861 and the 2nd from 1863. Do you feel a different tone from one to the other that might correspond to a change of feeling due to the war's development?
2. Can you establish intertextual relations (especially pertaining to an oblique look on the Civil War) between either of these poems and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?
2 comments:
1. In “Hope is the thing with feathers”, it seems to me that there is a very - pardon the repetition - hopeful tone. Animating “Hope” as a living creature that is selfless (“ Yet - never - in Extremity,/ It asked a crumb - of me”) and stands firm no matter the storm. There’s a very song-like structure, with the anaphoras and the many dental consonants in the beginning. The predominantly voiced consonants evoke wind, and the flapping of wings, but are soothing (the P in Hope being a very clear occlusive exception, to highlight this word, as well as “stops”). There is a drastic change in rhythm with the insertion of the conjunction “Yet”, which introduces the powerful conclusion. That being said, I think there’s a consciousness of the effect of a war - not nearly as strong as in the second poem, obviously, but the dash before “of me” feels like an addition that indicates that there is someone who’s sacrificing themselves for “me”. In the second poem, I think “*d*ead” is the first full stop, phonetically speaking, which makes sense. “Distinguished Dust” is a curious expression - it feels immediately bitter. The third stanza stands out to me, with an incredible play on words, that refers to “piling bodies” and the cost - with a literal comparison to Dollars - of peace. Overall, it is a very visually striking poem in a tone that differs heavily from the earlier one.
Beatriz Simões
1. Emily Dickinson’s “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers” and “It feels a shame to be alive” feel very different, and that could be because of the impact of the Civil War, that was going on at the time. The first poem has a hopeful tone, using the image of a bird to show how hope keeps singing even in tough times. It feels optimistic, like there’s still a lot to believe in.
The second poem, though, feels heavier and more serious. By 1863, the war had been going on for a while, and there had been great loss. Dickinson seems to be struggling with the guilt of surviving when so many others had died fighting. It’s less about hope and more about questioning what it means to live when others have sacrificed everything.
So, the tone changes from hopeful and uplifting to reflective and sad, which might match how people’s feelings about the war shifted over time.
Carolina Amaro N158426
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