Lesson 3.4 The Poetry of Emily Dickinson Reading Assignments Poem #1 "Hope" is the Thing with Feathers "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. ‐Emily Dickinson Poem #2 It Was Not Death, For I Stood Up It was not death, for I stood up, When everything that ticked has stopped And all the dead lie down. And space stares all around, It was not night, for all the bells Or grisly frosts, first autumn morns, Put out their tongues for noon. Repeal the beating ground; It was not frost, for on my flesh But most like chaos, stopless, cool, I felt siroccos crawl, Without a chance, or spar, Nor fire, for just my marble feet Or even a report of land Could keep a chancel cool. To justify despair. ‐Emily Dickinson And yet it tasted like them all, The figures I have seen Set orderly for burial Reminded me of mine, As if my life were shaven And fitted to a frame And could not breathe without a key, And 'twas like midnight, some, Poem #3 Success Success is counted sweetest By those who ne'er succeed. To comprehend a nectar Requires sorest need. Not one of all the purple host Who took the flag to‐day Can tell the definition, So clear, of victory, As he, defeated, dying, On whose forbidden ear The distant strains of triumph Break, agonized and clear ‐Emily Dickinson