Truth In Emily Dickinson's Success Is Counted Sweetest

163 Words1 Pages
Many of Emily Dickinson’s most famous lines take the form of homilies, or short moral sayings, which appear quite simple but that actually describe complicated moral and psychological truths. “Success is counted sweetest” is such a poem; its first two lines express its point, that people generally tend to desire things most when they do not have them. The following lines then develop that truth by offering a pair of images that exemplify it. The nectar is a symbol of triumph and success, portrayed as a luxury, can best be comprehended by someone who needs it. The defeated, dying man understands victory more clearly than the victorious army does. The poem exhibits Dickinson’s awareness of the complicated truths of human desire and it shows the