In Dickinson’s poem 314, she creates this extended metaphor comparing hope to a bird. It’s clever in a sense that readers are able to visualize what hope may look like. The last line says, “Yet – never – in Extremity, / It asked a crumb – of me,” which ties it all together displaying how hope is elegant, free, and selfless. In her poem 1263, she uses another metaphor where she compares the truth to lightning. The message of how the truth can sometimes be painful, is clearly communicated across the poem through lines like, “[The truth’s] Too bright for our infirm Delight.” In both of these poems and others, Dickinson’s use of metaphors allows readers to clearly visualize a complicated concepts, like death, hope, or the truth. The use of metaphors and imagery helps carry the message while making the poem enjoyable.
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I agree with your point that it allows the reader to better visualize rather abstract concepts. Dickinson’s poetry uses a lot of imagery and metaphors because she wants the audience to not just understand the words but to experience these things that she writes about. My personal favorite was the very beginning where she sets this whole scene of walking through purgatory. When she writes, “Our pace took sudden awe, / Our feet reluctant led. / Before were cities, but between, / The forest of the dead. / Retreat was out of hope,–” it feels as though she’s really taking you on this “journey” she mentions in the very first line of the poem. She makes the passage to death seem simultaneously something beautiful and frightening. By enhancing the reader’s ability to visualize the situation they are more likely to understand the feelings that come with the experience.