Sample Poetry Blog Post 2

Question:

There are many strategies by which poets increase the effect of their words and one of those is the repetition of words, images, sounds and the like. In the work of ONE poet you have studied, show how various kinds of repetition have allowed poets to heighten their meaning.

In the poem, “‘Hope’ Is The Thing With Feathers”, Emily Dickinson relies on the repetition of of words, sounds, and feelings to heighten the feeling of her writing. While the poem focuses on the characteristics and what defines the feeling of hope, there are many stylistic features used - instead of just the meaning of each sentence - to evoke emotion from the reader.

One of the most obvious and smart stylistic features Emily Dickinson relies on to heighten the meaning of her poem is emphasizing the specific sound the letter S makes. Using words such as “sings”, “stops”, “sweetest”, “sore”, “so”,“asked”, “chillest” and “strangest”, Emily Dickinson creates a feeling of constant movement in this poem. Not only does this repetition of sound allow the stanzas of her work to flow well, it adds to the freeing emotion of liberation she has created by comparing hope to a bird, which is able to fly. This constant use of the same sound from the letter S, allows her words to feel as if they are flying when read allowed or when read in the reader's mind, just like the image and feeling she is creating by using a metaphor of a bird and/or flying for the feeling of hope. In addition to repeating the sound, it allows the poem to repeat the feeling of what hope exactly brings to a person,  a desire or expectation for something to happen. While not every word previously listed may sound exactly alike, they each contain a light, specific S sound, creating a feeling of movement in her stanzas.

In addition to this repeated sound, Emily Dickinson uses the word “And” multiple times throughout the poem at the start of various sentences. This, in addition to the repeated S sounds allows the reader to feel as if the poem is constantly growing, and there is height in the feeling of hope. Using the specific word “And” allows the reader to think that hope can persevere through challenges, and this combined with the soaring feeling the S sound makes, forces the poem to become very powerful.

However, Emily Dickinson is able to make her poem feel as if it has an abrupt ending by breaking this form of repetition. By using the  two words, “abash” and “Extremity”, Emily Dickinson disrupts this soaring feeling, and as a result, creates a new, crashing like feeling with her language. This break in pattern causes an unusual, foreign feeling, which goes against what Emily Dickinson had previously created throughout the entirety of the poem. As a result, it creates a change in tone and feeling, which goes along perfectly with the change of attitude the narrator has at the end of the poem. While before the poem repeatedly generated the feeling of hope, the change in speech, meaning of the lines, and tone disrupts all previous growth of hope, and like the language, a crash in feeling occurs.   

Emily Dickinson’s repetition of words, sounds, and feelings in “‘Hope’ Is The Thing With Feathers” allows the poem to grow, and gradually gain powerful emotion. While the overall meaning of this poem is powerful enough, it is her literary and stylistic features that take the poem to the next level, making it an overwhelmingly strong piece of writing.