The speaker of Dickinson’s poem reveals very little about themself. For instance, we don’t know anything concrete regarding the speaker’s age, gender, or racial identity. However, we can infer several important points about his or her life experience and general worldview. For one thing, the speaker appears to be someone who has experienced a significant amount of adversity. The speaker indicates as much in the second stanza, when mentioning how the song of the hope-bird can be heard even in a violent “gale” (line 5), a comment that suggests personal experience of similarly stormy conditions. The speaker follows the reference to storms with a more pointed discussion of his or her own experience (lines 9–10):

I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;

That is, the speaker has personally visited “the chillest land” and sailed “on the strangest sea,” neither of which is a place that sounds particularly inviting. Yet despite the speaker’s personal experiences, it’s equally clear that the speaker is a fundamentally optimistic person. No matter how challenging the conditions of life have become, the speaker has always been able to hear “the tune without the words” (line 3) sung by the metaphorical hope-bird. In other words, the speaker is someone who doesn’t easily lose hope.

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