Hope" is the thing with feathers希望是长着羽毛的生灵

艾米莉·狄金森被认为是19世纪美国文坛最伟大的诗人之一。其生前只以匿名的形式发表了七首诗，她的诗作几乎全部是在她死后才得以公开发表。自然不仅净化了诗人的心灵，而且成了她创作的源泉。她从中感悟人生，写下了大量质朴清新的自然诗篇。狄金森认为，读好诗如坐春风，若醍醐灌顶(If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire ever can warm me， I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off， I know that is poetry.)，她躬身以行，虽深居简出，终日与书籍和后院鸟虫花草为伴，亦能任凭思绪驰骋，纵横意象，吐露真情，力图挖掘人们内心的隐痛和希冀。更为可贵的是，狄金森的诗题材涉及自然、爱情、死亡和永恒，摒一切世俗之成名杂念，弃一切英诗韵律音步之传统，一扫铅华，别出机杼。因此美国作家亨利·詹姆斯盛赞狄金森的诗为“灵魂的风景图”，更有人誉其诗“上承浪漫主义余绪，下开现代主义先河"。

"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.

希望是长着羽毛的生灵

栖息在灵魂的树杈

唱着无言的歌儿

从来——没有停下

它曾庇护了多少温暖

狂风中，它的歌声最是甜蜜

只有恼羞成怒的暴雨

才能让这只小鸟显现窘迫

我听见它的声音

在最寒冷的土地

在最偏远的海洋

绝境中，它依然不会张口

向我讨要哪怕一屑面包