Hope is a strange invention

“Hope is a strange invention” is an eight-line poem composed of two stanzas of four lines each. Each line is relatively the same length, and each line alternates between one of iambic trimeter and one written in iambic trimeter with an extra unstressed syllable on the end. An iamb is a unit of poetry, a poetic “foot,” consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. For example, the first two lines read, “Hope is a strange invention— / A Patent of the Heart—” (Lines 1-2). This alternation between true iambic trimeter and iambic trimeter with the extra syllable allows readers to settle into a regular rhythm while reading, one that is familiar with a “sing-song” rhythm, almost like a nursery rhyme. This regular meter emphasizes hope’s constant “unremitting action” (Line 3) and “unique momentum” (Line 7). In this sense, the poem’s form matches its content.

About half of the lines end with a dash; this allows readers to pause and take a breath when they reach the end of the line. These dashes occur in three out of the four lines in the first stanza and in the last line of the poem.