In administering an AS English assessment this week on Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1925), I selected the theme of hope - and got to thinking about the word. Having a longstanding interest in political rhetoric, the concept of hope and its public appeal has fascinated me over time. I am reminded, for instance, of street artist Shepard Fairey’s famous poster for Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign - the now-iconic stencil portrait of Obama’s upward-looking gaze, underlined simply by the word ‘HOPE’ in capitals.

Obama Hope Poster, Shepard Fairey, 2008.

The image design, a pop-culture phenomenon, is so captivating that it merits its own discussion, which I will duly attempt in time. For the moment, it is the selected type I want to address, as the word ‘hope’ itself commands attention for its particular - and somewhat peculiar - force. Fairey’s design was adapted and mass-marketed in many various incarnations, and also featured the words ‘change’ and ‘progress’ for Obama’s campaign, but the original ‘hope’ version remains the most widely distributed to date.

The word ‘hope’ has qualities worth observing for their meaningful effects, as it combines a highly complementary set of sounds. The ‘h’ sound is referred to in phonetics as a voiceless glottal fricative - also called an ‘aspirate’ - which has an airy or breathy effect. Notably, the verb ‘aspire’ - in the sense of directing one’s hopes or ambitions - is derived from the French aspirer or Latin aspirare, from ad- ‘to’+ spirare ‘breathe’. ‘A spire’ also connotes a towering or upward-rising construct. In its original sense then, to aspire is to breathe, with the air taken in and expelled from the lungs intrinsic to that hopeful, heightening action. The ‘h’ sound in ‘hope’ can thus be considered an aspiring sound which activates the concept itself.

The long ‘o’ of ‘hope’ was clearly a crucial vowel sound and visual cue for the Obama campaign. Fairey’s poster features the separate ‘O’ - for Obama - containing elements of the American flag above the ‘e’, giving the word that lifting, punctuating accent at the end. The letter ‘O’, capitalised, presents as a distinctly round and pregnant figure - but also as a cipher. The ‘O’ shape is empty, presenting a space into which meaning can be injected, hence its potency in the verbal construct of ‘hope’. Hope is an abstract noun understood as a singular concept - explaining its collective force - yet the meaning ascribed to it is as personal and individual as the character and dreams of the receiver. The ‘O’ makes the hope your own.

Lastly, the plosive ‘p’ in ‘hope’ is softened by the prior sounds, yet it anchors the word gracefully with an occlusive stop. The sound pops lightly in its expression. giving the word a gentle refinement. Altogether these sounds generate a world connoting the lively and elevated anticipation of dreamy ends. The word balloons and floats with possibility and elegance. Not bad for a single syllable.