15 pages • 30 minutes read
Hope is a strange invention
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Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
‘“Faith” is a fine invention (202)’ by Emily Dickinson (1891)
Dickinson wrote this poem in approximately 1860, and it was published posthumously in 1891. The poem features some of the same patterns of equating an abstract virtue with an “invention.” Whereas hope is a “strange invention,” Dickinson refers to faith as a “fine invention.” Even shorter than the poem discussed in this study guide, “‘Faith’ is a fine invention” is only a single quatrain long and features a more cynical tone.
“Crumbling is not an instant’s Act“ by Emily Dickinson (1945)
As with other poems Dickinson wrote, “Crumbling is not an instant’s Act” focuses on the internal struggles of an individual. The speaker describes how an individual's fall or demise happens gradually rather than all at once; flaws and mistakes accumulate until it is too late for redemption.
“Fame is a fickle food (1702)“ by Emily Dickinson (1914)
Like Dickinson’s poems on faith and hope, “Fame is a fickle food” dissects another abstract idea. In the poem, the speaker attempts to describe the ever-changing nature of fame, which does not always lead to the success everyone hopes for.
Further Literary Resources
‘Emily Dickinson’s Poetry of “the Instead”‘ by Christine Savinel (2009)
Savinel focuses on Emily Dickinson’s “fear of mutability” that “proves near obsessional.” This fear of change and the constant movement of time is what Savinel tracks in Dickinson’s writing. She analyzes Dickinson’s “violent replacement” where she substitutes “one instance, idea, or choice by another” in her work. This replacement and substitution, Savinel argues, is what makes up “the Instead” Dickinson refers to in her texts. This replacement/substitution is “non-choice,” and the acts of choosing and not choosing become conflated. Savinel’s stance is that Dickinson’s focus on mutability represents “the infinite possibility of poetry and in political protest against all prescribed patterns.”
“‘I heard his silver Call’: Emily Dickinson and the Poetry of Telegraphic Acoustics“ by Justin C. Tackett (2020)
Tackett argues that thinking of Emily Dickinson’s poetry in acoustic terms “instead of in terms of literacy, reveals a rich separate discourse running through Dickinson’s poetry and American poetry generally.” More specifically Tackett dissects how Dickinson was familiar with telegraphic acoustics, which he defines as “the sound of telegraph wires vibrating overhead” and “the practice of transcribing Morse code by ear.” With telegraphic acoustics, sound takes precedence over sight, a concept that Tackett states translated into poetry. Dickinson was familiar with telegraphic acoustics and, Tackett says, more disposed towards it due to her ocular afflictions.
“Imagery Analysis on Emily Dickinson’s Poetry“ by Masagus Sulaiman (2017)
Masagus analyzes a selection of Dickinson’s poetry to determine the type of imagery/description being utilized in her text. The results show “sixty-two types of imagery”: “fifty-one visual, one auditory, one olfactory, three tactile, one organic, and five kinesthetic.” Using psychoanalytic criticism and close reading, Masagus uses these examples of imagery to analyze humans’ relationship to God “symbolized and illustrated by things” as well as Dickinson’s own life experiences.
Listen to Poem
Three musicians (a vocalist, a guitarist, and a bassist) perform a musical piece with Dickinson’s poem as its primary source of inspiration.
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Related Titles
By Emily Dickinson
