Success+is+Counted+Sweetest

Joshua Moreno Shivam Shah Charlie Sun Period 2

"Success is Counted Sweetest"  By Emily Dickinson Success is counted sweetest 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 definitionSo clear of Victory As he defeated--dying-- On whose forbidden ear The distant strains of triumph Burst agonized and clear!

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Sound devices- __Alliteration__- “** S **uccess is counted ** s **weetest”(1) “As he ** d **efeated--** d **ying”(9) __Assonance__-“The d** i **stant strains of tr** i **umph”(11) “R** e **quires sorest n** ee **d”(4) __Consonance__-“Success is coun** t **ed swee** t **est”(1) “Requi** r **es so** r **est need”(4) “The dis** t **ant s** t **rains of triumph”(11)

Figurative Language __Personification __- “Not one of all the purple host Who took the flag to-day”(5-6) __Hyperbole __- “To comprehend a nectar Requires sorest need.”(3-4)

Explication Emily Dickinson was a recluse who hardly left her home. She is often described as a very timid and shy person, and all of this can be seen in Emily Dickinson’s poem “Success is Counted Sweetest-“. This poem basically describes how success is more important and better for people that have never had it before. She also talks about how it is not those who have been winning all alone who enjoy the victory but those that have been losing and that have never won will enjoy success the most.

The first two lines describe the overall tone of the poem but saying the general message that those who never succeed have a sweeter taste of victory. The next two lines go on to say that only a person that has a great need and desire to win can understand this sweetness that comes from a rare victory. Then in the next two lines the speaker describes a “purple host” (line 5) that is probably referring to some sort or royalty because purple is often regarded as a royal color. The whole second stanza states that the royalty that took over someone else cannot even begin to understand the victory that they just got. Lines 9 and 10 go on with the war imagery and talk about how those that have died in the pursuit of the success have to live with knowing that they failed and then the last two lines talk about how those who lost have to sit there and hear the cries of success from those that have won.

This poem is a direct relation to Dickinson’s life because during her life she has hardly tasted success. Only 1 in 10 of her poems was published, so when it was published it was a big deal (lines 1-2), and she often lost out to some of her friends that were more with the times and had more standard poems. Dickinson had to hear her friends cry in victory while she cried in defeat (lines 11-12). The royalty referred to in the poem as the purple Host (line 5) can be seen as Dickinson’s more standardized and perhaps more socially open poets of her time. Dickinson also had a great desire to be published over her other poet counterparts (line 4).

Overall the poem “Success is Counted Sweetest-“ is a direct relation to Dickinson’s life and how she deeply wanted to succeed but never got the opportunity to do such. Dickinson was always beaten out by other poets of the time and she had to suffer through the pain of seeing and hearing them succeed while she just had to sit there and watch as she failed.