Choose the correct answer from each drop-down menu.
How does Dickinson use syntax to develop the theme and mood?

Hope
by Emily Dickinson

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.

Dickinson in order to

1st blank options:
Places the subject in the middle of the poem
Concludes with an independent clause
Uses balanced structure

2nd blank options:
highlight the difficulty of remaining hopeful
emphasizes hope requires little of others
stress the sense of loss without hope

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) was an American poet known for living quite a secluded life. Her poems are still studied and appreciated all over the world.

For the first blank options:

1. Dickinson does not place the subject in the middle of the poem. She actually begins the poem with it.

2. This is correct. The last clause in the poem is an independent one. It can stand alone as a sentence, and it has a subject and a predicate.

3. She does not use a balanced structure. Notice how the predicate of the very first subject is composed of several sentences that take up most of the poem.

For the second blank options:

1. Dickinson does not highlight the difficulty of remaining hopeful. Quite the contrary, she claims hope can be found even in the direst of circumstances.

2. This is correct. In the final clause, Dickinson claims that hope never asked "a crumb" of her. Hope is not demanding. It is light and easy to find.

3. The poem as a whole doe not speak of hopelessness or the feeling of being lost.