Entry 52: Hopes?

In Dickinson’s “If you were coming in the Fall,” the speaker indicates feeling some kind of hope. Do you think the hope expressed in this poem are fairly common, or are they rare and odd? Given the general pessimism of Dickinson’s work, does this poem stand out as showing some optimism, or does the attitude toward the hope and its likelihood of being fulfilled keep it consistent with her other works? What experiences have you had in life in which you hoped for something but had no way of knowing if it would ever happen?

• I believe that the hope expressed in this poem is fairly common. Many literary works include the aspect of hope, and the feeling of hoping for something, because the majority of the people will always hope for something good to happen, even if they are pessimists or realists. This poem, though generally pessimistic, has some optimistic attribute within it. However, this doesn't make it stand out. Why? Because the attitude towards the hope and its likelihood of being fulfilled is consistent with the other works of Emily Dickinson.
• There have been some instances in life in which I hoped for something but had no way of knowing if it would ever happen. For example, the lottery. Even if I buy a lot of lottery tickets, I will never know if I will win it or not until the results come out. So I speculate about what might happen, what could happen, and what would I do with the money if I actually win it. But in the end, I still don't know if I will win the lottery or not, so basically, all of my speculations were useless. This is very similar to Emily Dickinson's poem "If You Were Coming in the Fall".