Success is Counted Sweetest (Essay In Progress)

Literary Analysis

April 1, 2009

Success and Comprehension: Akin, or Adversarial?

While Emily Dickinson writes of success as a sort of ethereal nectar, she also condemns it by elevating the idea of success to a virtually unattainable plateau. Dickinson parallels success with a group of select few who are able to actually identify and appreciate it: the defeated. The notion of comprehension seen within Success is Counted Sweetest prevails throughout the entire poem. While Dickinson seems to portray comprehension as a means to an end, she is in fact showing us a literary mirror in comprehension’s stead: The reader then sees what the reader wishes to see. In doing so, rather than seeing success through comprehension, we are shown victory through loss. One question remains however; is comprehension a tool to understanding victory, or achieving it?


Read the Poem: "Success is Counted Sweetest".