Success Is Counted Sweetest
Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne'er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.
By those who ne'er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.
Not one of all the purple Host
Who took the Flag today
Can tell the definition
So clear of Victory
Who took the Flag today
Can tell the definition
So clear of Victory
As he defeated--dying--
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Burst agonized and clear!
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Burst agonized and clear!
Analysis/ Review of the poem.
This is an impactful poem written by Emily Dickinson which makes the bold claim that success is best understood by those who fail, and illustrates this claim by contrasting a victorious army with a fallen soldier from the other side. This is a poem of twelve with four stanza each. Emily Dickinson’s “Success is counted sweetest” argues that “success” is valued most by those who have it least. People who always fail are the ones who appreciate success the most. To truly value something sweet like success, you have to really, really need it.
The poet presents the theme of the poem by repeating the title of the poem, “Success is counted sweetest” in the first line with the addition of the people who have never seen or tasted success. She compares it with the nectar, the core of honey. She states that if somebody wants to test or understand nectar, he must be aware of the sorest need. His need should be intense and extreme to understand what nectar is. Hence, in both cases, the absence of things makes them significant in one’s life. This stanza spells out the main idea of the poem with a parallel comparison of two things: success and nectar.
In the second stanza, the poet presents her theme in another way. Victory replaces success here. She is of the view that all the people who are wearing the purple uniform and take the flag today cannot tell what victory is. Victory does not come easily in war. It comes at the cost of lives and sometimes of those who want it the most. Therefore, a person having not tasted anything else on the battlefield cannot tell what victory is. He even does not know the definition of victory. This stanza contributes to the overall theme of success and its absence as an impetus to achieve it by presenting the metaphor of battlefield and victory.
The last stanza continues extending the war metaphor. Emily Dickinson extends this thematic strand by saying that a person who is on the battlefield and is on the verge of death after facing defeat suddenly hears the strains of victory dying away too. This stanza contributes to the main idea by presenting that a person who is on the verge of death can understand what victory/success is.
Figure of speech used in Poem
1. Consonance/ Alliteration: the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /r/ in “Requires sorest need” and the sound of /t/ in “The distant strains of triumph” and “Success is counted sweetest.”
2. Imagery: The poem uses the images of a victorious army and one dying warrior to suggest that only one who has suffered defeat can understand success. Other example include“Not one of all the purple Host,”; “The distant strains of triumph,” and “Who took the Flag today.”
3. Symbolism: The speaker in “Success is counted sweetest” parallels “nectar” (Line 3) with the experience of success. The two definitions of “nectar” offer insight into the role of the symbol in the poem. One definition of nectar describes it as the juice of flowers and plants that bees collect and use to make honey. while “The purple host” is the symbol of the royal army
4. Enjambment: It is defined as a thought or clause that does not come to an end at a line break; instead, it moves over the next line. it is seen in the poem.
5. Metaphor : It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between objects different in nature. There is only one metaphor in the third line “to comprehend nectar”. Here, nectar is referring to the sweetness of victory.
6. Syncope: It is a literary device that can be defined as the contraction or the shortening of a word by omitting sounds, syllables or letters from the middle of the word. The poet has omitted the letters from the middle of the word such as, “By those who ne’er succeed.”
7. Paradox: with "success" meaning more the less that people enjoy it—and implying that having success makes it seem less significant.