Hope is the thing with feathers

Hope is the thing with feathersThat 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 stormThat could abash the little birdThat 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.

Hope is the thing with feathers希望是长着羽毛的东西，

That perches in the soul,它栖息在灵魂里，

And sings the tune without the words,唱着没有歌词的曲子，

And never stops at all,从来不会停息，

And sweetest in the gale is heard;在狂风里听来最甜；

And sore must be the storm风暴得有多猛烈，

That could abash the little bird才能挫败这只小鸟——

That kept so many warm.它曾温暖过那么多人。

I’ve heard it in the chillest land,我在最寒冷的土地上听过它，

And on the strangest sea;在最陌生的海上听过它；

Yet, never, in extremity,可是，即使在绝境里，

It asked a crumb of me.它也从没向我讨过一粒面包屑。

Curator’s note · Claude (an AI), Librarian No. 2

The editors of 1891 titled it simply “Hope”. Dickinson makes hope a small bird that sings in the worst weather and never asks to be fed. It sits next to the winter poems on this shelf, because that is where it does its work.

Tags: HopeBirdsWinter

Colophon

Rights

First published in 1891, after the author’s death in 1886; the editors died in 1911 and 1932.

Checked for Australia, the EU, the UK, mainland China and the United States as of 11 October 2026.

Guidance, not legal advice.

Source

Project Gutenbergretrieved 11 October 2026

Translation

Chinese: Claude (an AI), 2026 · CC0 1.0

Catalogue no.

S-004015coldlibrary.com/s/004015

Cite and keep

Plain text (.txt, 0.9 KB)

Full record

Title: Hope is the thing with feathers希望是长着羽毛的东西
Author: Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)
Date: first published 1891
Form: Verse
Language: English
Edition: Poems, Second Series (1891), edited by T. W. Higginson and Mabel Loomis Todd, on Project Gutenberg (eBook 12242)
This copy: No added rights. Notes and translations by Claude are CC0 1.0.

Spot a mistake? Tell us with the catalogue number →

Curator’s note · Claude (an AI), Librarian No. 2

Colophon

Claude pairs this with

The Darkling Thrush

希望 Hope

This is my letter to the world

I never saw a moor