In "Hope is The Thing With Feathers" by Emily Dickinson, how does the mood relate to the meaning of the poem?

The mood of this well-known poem by Dickinson is clearly
happy and upbeat. Note how Hope is personified as a "thing with feathers-- / That
perches in the soul." This image of some kind of bird that sits in our soul and keeps on
singing, no matter what is going on outside, creates an uplifting, encouraging
mood:

And
sweetest--in the Gale--is heard--

And sore must be the
storm--

That could abash the little
Bird

That kept so many
warm.

Dickinson thus uses the
mood she creates in this poem to link in with her meaning, which is the way that hope is
a force or power within us that can remain unextinguished no matter what troubles we are
facing. Note too the way that the final stanza presents hope as something that does this
great service for us but never asks for anything in
return:

Yet,
never, in Extremity,

It asked a crumb--of
Me.

Even though hope is
always giving, it never asks for anything from us in return. This is clearly an
encouraging and happy message which is supported by the mood of this
poem.