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 definition
So clear of Victory
As he defeated — dying —
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Burst agonized and clear!
Do you have any comments, criticism, paraphrasis or analysis of this poem that you feel would assist other visitors in understanding the meaning or the theme of this poem by Emily Dickinson better? If accepted, your analysis will be added to this page of American Poems. Together we can build a wealth of information, but it will take some discipline and determination.
this poem might be a mask behind which is hidden a message,there is a code dating back from the Roman era possibly. FIND IT AND YOU WILL FIND A SURPRISE
this poem”s message is so clear
the person who lacks ,understands whatever is lacking better than the person who possesses it
the poem give a meassage that any one can feel success but the loser is the most one who taste success and feel it …
Emily Dickinson means in this poem that the losers know the meaning of victory better than the actual winners.Success cannot be realized without the first knowing of hopelessness that comes with losing.You want what you cannot have more than you want what you already do.all things that make life worth living is a gift,and everyone should appreciate the small things, even if they are few and far between.Success is meaningful to those who do not get often.they are able to appreciate it more than someone who is constantly succeeding in life.
Emily Dickinson means in this poem that the losers know the meaning of victory better than the actual winners.Success cannot be realized without the first knowing of hopelessness that comes with losing.You want what you cannot have more than you want what you already do.all things that make life worth living is a gift,and everyone should appreciate the small things, even if they are few and far between.Success is meaningful to those who do not get often.they are able to appreciate it more than someone who is constantly succeeding in life.
my own interpretation of this poem is that you will value your greatest success if you yourself have been defeated many times..and still you strive hard to succeed..
Only the unsuccessful can know and taste the meaning of success.
Greg, how can you say that you don’t like Dickinson because she is messed up? All of histories greatest poets were a little messed up in the head. If you don’t believe me how would you explain Poe? Whitman? Or T.S. Eliot?
this poem is in my opinion a masterpiece, Dickinson displays the human-ness of unappreciation, but even more so than that, it is saying how everything is a compensation of each other..like triumph and defeat, dark and light–without one, we would not recognize the other as what it is.
This is my personal interpretation of the poem- I believe as the fallen,defeated soldier lies there dying, he finally realizes just how important the victory was. Not that the winners did not apreciate the victory but they cannot possibly understand what it feels like to lose and while the winners are celebrating have to hear the sounds of victory as he lie there dying. The Ultimate success for this fallen soldier would be to live, not to win the war. It becomes a position of life and death, not who won the war.
Like I first said, this is my interpretation. And I do not put others down on thiers and neither should anyone else. Everyone has different interpretations which is one of the great things about poetry!
ha i did this peom for a project at school! I got assigned emily dickinson as a famous poet and this is the poem I chose!