Hope is a strange invention

Hope, which can be both a noun and a verb, refers to a desire or an expectation. To “hope” for something means to anticipate something that one desires. Hope, according to the poem’s third-person speaker, is a “strange invention” (Line 1). An “invention” typically refers to something man-made or constructed, something that isn’t naturally occurring. “Strange” refers to something peculiar that is different from what is expected. According to our speaker, therefore, hope is a rather unusual, odd, unnatural fabrication.

Hope is referred to as a “Patent” in Line 2. The contemporary understanding of a “patent” is documentation protecting the proprietary rights to an invention, trademark, brand, or other property. However, the Oxford English Dictionary traces the usage of this word back to 1387–1395 with Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. In this respect, “patent” refers to a document conferring a right or privilege. Figuratively, the Oxford English Dictionary also states that “patent” could refer to a “quality or tendency that is characteristic of someone in particular” (“patent.” Oxford English Dictionary, 2022). When the speaker notes that the abstract notion of hope is specifically “A Patent of the Heart” (Line 2), they mean that hope is an attribute or characteristic specifically associated with this part of the body.