Grief is the thing with feathers is the title of a book by Ned Porter. I haven't read it, but for some reason the title has been running through my mind lately. I'd imagined it must be a quote from something, but if so, I haven't been able to find out what.
I don't understand it - does it mean that grief is like a bird? I don't know. But somehow it resonates.
I thought we might use it as a starting point for some writing.
Grief is an emotion, a feeling. Think of others - happiness, sadness, jealousy, anger. Make up your own metaphor: eg Anger is a fire-breathing dragon, Joy is a balloon the colour of rainbows.
Using one of these as a starting point, write a poem or a story that explores that particular emotion.
Update - a friend has told me that the title is adapted from a poem by Emily Dickinson. Here it is.
Oddly, it made me think of what looked like a dead pheasant in our garden on Wednesday. It was lying in a patch of wilting daffodils. As you do, I went out with a sinking feeling to deal with it. As I got near, she fluttered to life and began banging herself against the fence. After a bit, she remembered how to fly,as pheasants do, and launched herself over the fence. Drama over!
ReplyDeleteIt's a an alteration of a poem by Emily Dickinson:
ReplyDeleteHope 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.