Emily Dickinson's 'Success Is Counted Sweetest'

“Without failure success wouldn’t taste so sweet.” This quote from an anonymous source forms the basis of Emily Dickinson’s poem, “Success is Counted Sweetest”. Dickinson, who, along with Walt Whitman, formed the basis of American poetry, describes success in this poem from the standpoint of one who has not experienced it. This is quite accurate as Dickinson never truly became famous during her lifetime. Dickinson gives a point of view of success that most people do not see. Emily Dickinson uses metaphor, irony, and imagery to portray her view of success, which is that those who are successful do not truly understand success. Nectar, which is a metaphor for success in Dickinson’s poem, is a drink of the Gods in Greek and Roman mythology; thus, being a drink of the Gods, it can only be tasted by a select few. In the poem, Dickinson says, “To comprehend a nectar / Requires sorest need,” which ultimately means that in order to achieve …show more content…
When Dickinson mentions nectar, she wants the reader to see a scene with Gods like Zeus and Athena all gathered around having fun and drinking nectar. When Dickinson mentions the victors taking the flag, she wants the reader to see a scene on the battlefield of a recently victorious military unit cheering and celebrating while, in the following stanza, she uses the imagery of a soldier on the other side of the battlefield who hears the celebration but will not know what it is like to have won the battle. Dickinson uses the words “agonized” and “clear” to describe just how the joy from the victorious sounded to the defeated. In line with Dickinson’s view, the literary critic believes that through defeat and failure the soldier will grow as a person and spiritually as he or she says, “It is through suffering and loss that people grow in knowledge and spirit” ("Explanation of: