Hope is that thing with feathers.....
Hope—the last resort of every living being, what would any one do without hope?? People go to any extent to keep their hopes alive. They go to the temples and mosques, they pray day and night, they confirm and reconfirm to others for hope…
Lately whenever I have tried to establish any contact with that supreme intelligent being, only one prayer has left my mouth, take away every hope, and exonerate me of this existence, waiting for things to get better. How many of us actually realize that if hope drives us to live it also reduces our existence to zilch. It’s much easier to know, and live with the fact that someone is dead than waiting for the person to elevate from a state of coma. Hope is a word that deceives you to believe that things are actually going to work out, even if the situation is beyond repair.
Emily Dickinson said,” hope is that thing with feather, that perches on the soul…” I don’t think she ever gave a thought to the indelible mark that the bird leaves on the soul after it flies away, and eventually it does.
The platitude called life has always thrown several cruel hoaxes on us hope being one of them. What is hope? This is a question, which I am sure is not a serious concern of many people around us. What scares me most about the word and its implication is its all-pervasive, unquestionable existence.
To all the people who decry and deride my notion of hope: this is a personal experience … matter of individual perception … had I suspended my hopes long back, I would have been writing happier stuff and would not have sounded so cynical.
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Rena Hands
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What an exceptional submission. Truly a thought provoking/contemplating post.
The second question mark is not necessary.
Instead of repetition “hope,” why not state “it?”…
I am not certain of the capitalization of the word but I know that it should have been capitalized else where in your paper. I believe a further examination (more examples)of Hope would have made this a greater propounding essay. This is not an essay? This is simply a singular thought?
Again, an extraordinary write with so few words.
The second question mark is not necessary.
Instead of repetition “hope,” why not state “it?”…
I believe, when quoting another writer, you must unless paraphrasing type out exactly what was originally stated.Hope-the last resort of every living being, what would any one do without it? People go to extremes to ensure/secure the survival of their expectations.(Possible rewrite)They go to temples and mosques, they pray day and night, these habitual rituals confirm and reconfirm the hopes for others.(Another possible rewrite)
I found the original poem online so I am certain that this is the first line…Emily Dickinson said, “Hope is the thing with feathers, That perches in the soul…”
Originally your quotation marks were inverted so here it is properly typed out.Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
(Possible rewrite)The platitude called life has always thrown several cruel hoaxes on us, Hope, being one of them.
I am not certain of the capitalization of the word but I know that it should have been capitalized else where in your paper. I believe a further examination (more examples)of Hope would have made this a greater propounding essay. This is not an essay? This is simply a singular thought?
Again, an extraordinary write with so few words.
A thoughtful and heartfelt piece of writing.
It reminds me of Albert Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus, in which he describes the absurd condition: “much of our life is built on the hope for tomorrow yet tomorrow brings us closer to death and is the ultimate enemy; people live as if they didn't know about the certainty of death; once stripped of its common romanticisms, the world is a foreign, strange and inhuman place; true knowledge is impossible and rationality and science cannot explain the world: their stories ultimately end in meaningless abstractions, in metaphors.”
In the case of Emily Dickinson, she defines hope with a metaphor and compares it to a bird, withiout giving a thought "to the indelible mark that the bird leaves on the soul after it flies away."
Adlib wrote:
Hope—the last resort of every living being, what would any one do without hope??
......
The platitude called life has always thrown several cruel hoaxes on us hope being one of them. What is hope? This is a question, which I am sure is not a serious concern of many people around us. What scares me most about the word and its implication is its all-pervasive, unquestionable existence.
It reminds me of Albert Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus, in which he describes the absurd condition: “much of our life is built on the hope for tomorrow yet tomorrow brings us closer to death and is the ultimate enemy; people live as if they didn't know about the certainty of death; once stripped of its common romanticisms, the world is a foreign, strange and inhuman place; true knowledge is impossible and rationality and science cannot explain the world: their stories ultimately end in meaningless abstractions, in metaphors.”
In the case of Emily Dickinson, she defines hope with a metaphor and compares it to a bird, withiout giving a thought "to the indelible mark that the bird leaves on the soul after it flies away."
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ioansant
Adlib
A rather depressing piece, written in despair I suspect. I doubt hope is the ‘last resort of every living being’ that is put too far from reason as a piece of wisdom. A bacterium lives but does it have hope; in my opinion if merely exists, so do worms, the insect world and most animals? Possibly, in the higher creatures like gorillas there maybe a semblance of that emotion we call hope. But then many people just live, get on with their lives on a day to day basis, one day as a time as most religions advise. Have no thought for the ‘morrow, consider the lily of the fields….If you did not mean to say that ALL living organisms have hope then why say it. The writer should be precise in what he writes.
‘Lately whenever I have tried to establish any contact’ Maybe write ‘some’ contact rather than ‘any’ contact. The next line is a very strange line, you are asking a supreme intelligent being that you are not sure exists to take away every hope you have in this existence. So, in short you don’t want to live, because according to the rest of the piece it is hope that drives us on to live, and you wish hope to be taken away for what purpose?
This line is even odder ‘and exonerate me of this existence’, how can you be exonerated for living, normally exonerate is to do with crime or an accused act, how can one be accused of living? Something tells me to be careful here, for if you are truly writing about self as against merely putting thoughts to paper you are depressed and need help. I mean that gently and not as an ad-hominy.
But since you ask for a critique on your work I must go on, not unkindly, I hope but as on a voyage together. ‘How many of us actually realize that if hope drives us to live it also reduces our existence to zilch.’ This line is a bit like Alice in Wonderland and gets even stranger, so now hope drives us to a state of zilch, a place of no hope. Well in one way that is true, we all will die at some time and for many that will be the end of any hope whatsoever. Most people accept that and put of the though for tomorrow, the best place for it. For those that do have a hope that there is a God (and you raised the point about God) their hope is in an eternal life with God. Most people limit their hope to this world and this life and seem very happy with it enjoying the things of the moment like eating, sleeping, working, laughing, enjoying the things of pleasure, exercising their intellectual activities and even writing.
You quote Emily Dickensen as if she is the font of all truth and all knowledge but if I were to judge her on the feather and soul comment, I would say she is a goose. As silly as. How could a bird sit on a soul, for that matter why would a feather leave an indelible mark? It makes no sense to me.
I read this several days ago and left it as I could see no good on me commenting, but coming back to it gets more confusing: ‘The platitude called life’ I don’t see life as a platitude, or likened to a platitude. I see life as a gift, to be lived and experienced and to be enjoyed as far as is possible. But then you may wish to point out to me all the cripples in the world, the blind, the lame, the unwashed, the poor and those in constant pain, just go ask any of them if you can extinguish their life now. Some will say yes but the majority wills scurry away from you and your morbid interest in death, for the alternative to life is death or as some say a non-existent state.
You r last comments are about your own personal experience of hope, I am glad you do have hope, I’m glad you are able to write, glad you are still here with us. I hope you continue to write and to find some comfort in existing, I hope you find joy in the beauty of this creation for as long as you have with us, and never lose hope the alternative is to live in despair and unhappiness.
To finish I offer quote from Pope:
Hope springs eternal in the human breast
Man never is, but always to be blest
An Essay on Man Epistle(1973) I.95
The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations 4th ed. Oxford University Press 1996
Lo! The poor Indian, whose untutored mind
Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind;
His soul proud Science never taught to stray
Far as the solar walk, or milky way;
Yet simple nature to his hope is giv’n,
Behind the cloud-topped hill, an humbler heav’n.
An Essay on Man Epistle(1973) I.99
The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations 4th ed. Oxford University Press 1996
Regards
Ioan
A rather depressing piece, written in despair I suspect. I doubt hope is the ‘last resort of every living being’ that is put too far from reason as a piece of wisdom. A bacterium lives but does it have hope; in my opinion if merely exists, so do worms, the insect world and most animals? Possibly, in the higher creatures like gorillas there maybe a semblance of that emotion we call hope. But then many people just live, get on with their lives on a day to day basis, one day as a time as most religions advise. Have no thought for the ‘morrow, consider the lily of the fields….If you did not mean to say that ALL living organisms have hope then why say it. The writer should be precise in what he writes.
‘Lately whenever I have tried to establish any contact’ Maybe write ‘some’ contact rather than ‘any’ contact. The next line is a very strange line, you are asking a supreme intelligent being that you are not sure exists to take away every hope you have in this existence. So, in short you don’t want to live, because according to the rest of the piece it is hope that drives us on to live, and you wish hope to be taken away for what purpose?
This line is even odder ‘and exonerate me of this existence’, how can you be exonerated for living, normally exonerate is to do with crime or an accused act, how can one be accused of living? Something tells me to be careful here, for if you are truly writing about self as against merely putting thoughts to paper you are depressed and need help. I mean that gently and not as an ad-hominy.
But since you ask for a critique on your work I must go on, not unkindly, I hope but as on a voyage together. ‘How many of us actually realize that if hope drives us to live it also reduces our existence to zilch.’ This line is a bit like Alice in Wonderland and gets even stranger, so now hope drives us to a state of zilch, a place of no hope. Well in one way that is true, we all will die at some time and for many that will be the end of any hope whatsoever. Most people accept that and put of the though for tomorrow, the best place for it. For those that do have a hope that there is a God (and you raised the point about God) their hope is in an eternal life with God. Most people limit their hope to this world and this life and seem very happy with it enjoying the things of the moment like eating, sleeping, working, laughing, enjoying the things of pleasure, exercising their intellectual activities and even writing.
You quote Emily Dickensen as if she is the font of all truth and all knowledge but if I were to judge her on the feather and soul comment, I would say she is a goose. As silly as. How could a bird sit on a soul, for that matter why would a feather leave an indelible mark? It makes no sense to me.
I read this several days ago and left it as I could see no good on me commenting, but coming back to it gets more confusing: ‘The platitude called life’ I don’t see life as a platitude, or likened to a platitude. I see life as a gift, to be lived and experienced and to be enjoyed as far as is possible. But then you may wish to point out to me all the cripples in the world, the blind, the lame, the unwashed, the poor and those in constant pain, just go ask any of them if you can extinguish their life now. Some will say yes but the majority wills scurry away from you and your morbid interest in death, for the alternative to life is death or as some say a non-existent state.
You r last comments are about your own personal experience of hope, I am glad you do have hope, I’m glad you are able to write, glad you are still here with us. I hope you continue to write and to find some comfort in existing, I hope you find joy in the beauty of this creation for as long as you have with us, and never lose hope the alternative is to live in despair and unhappiness.
To finish I offer quote from Pope:
Hope springs eternal in the human breast
Man never is, but always to be blest
An Essay on Man Epistle(1973) I.95
The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations 4th ed. Oxford University Press 1996
Lo! The poor Indian, whose untutored mind
Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind;
His soul proud Science never taught to stray
Far as the solar walk, or milky way;
Yet simple nature to his hope is giv’n,
Behind the cloud-topped hill, an humbler heav’n.
An Essay on Man Epistle(1973) I.99
The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations 4th ed. Oxford University Press 1996
Regards
Ioan