The Soul

Most of the poem’s action occurs within “the soul” (2), as we find out early on. From the beginning, we are made aware of the fact that the image of hope as a bird is a metaphor that will frame the rest of the poem. By setting it within the soul, the speaker suggests that hope comes to us internally and invisibly, even when we do not expect it to. In further using the image of a bird that “perches” (2), seemingly separate and autonomous from other parts of the soul, the speaker implies that hope is part of us but simultaneously derives from a more mysterious, inexplicable place.

Land and Sea

Like the “storm” (6) in the second stanza, the “chillest land” (9) and “strangest Sea” (10) are images of external conditions in which the speaker finds herself. They symbolize difficulties that befall the speaker beyond her control, just as...