"Hope" is the thing with feathers (254)

"Hope" is the thing with feathers (254)

Original Text
The Manuscript Books of Emily Dickinson, edited by R. W. Franklin in volumes (Cambridge, Mass., and London: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1981; PS 1541 A1 1981 ROBA): I, 264 (fascicle 13).
2That perches in the soul
3And sings the tune without the words
4And never stops at all,
5And sweetest in the gale is heard;
6And sore must be the storm
7That could abash the little bird
8That kept so many warm.
9I've heard it in the chillest land
10And on the strangest sea,
11Yet never, in extremity,
12It asked a crumb of me.

Notes

1] "Hope": the 1891 edition lacks the quotation marks. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1891
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 1997.