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Success Is Counted Sweetest Analysis

The poem discusses the paradox of success and failure. It states that success is valued most by those who experience failure, as failure provides a greater understanding and appreciation of victory. The poem suggests that only those who have been defeated and listened to the sounds of triumph while dying can truly comprehend the sweetness of success. It uses imagery of purple hosts, flags, forbidden ears, and agonized strains of music to represent victory and defeat.

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570 views4 pages

Success Is Counted Sweetest Analysis

The poem discusses the paradox of success and failure. It states that success is valued most by those who experience failure, as failure provides a greater understanding and appreciation of victory. The poem suggests that only those who have been defeated and listened to the sounds of triumph while dying can truly comprehend the sweetness of success. It uses imagery of purple hosts, flags, forbidden ears, and agonized strains of music to represent victory and defeat.

Uploaded by

maurhene aniana
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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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 definition
So clear of Victory

As he defeated – dying –
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Burst agonized and clear!

Red: Metaphor Imagery

Blue: Symbol Imagery

Yellow: Personification Imagery


THEME:

Success and Failure

- The theme is revealed in the first two lines of the poem which read, "Success is counted
sweetest / By those who ne'er succeed." In other words, no one appreciates the feeling of
success better than a person who experiences failure. The author says that “success” is
valued most by those who have it least. In this sense, success is a kind of a paradox: the
more successful you are, the less you appreciate that success, and vice versa. The poem
goes on to say that to understand fully the satisfaction and joy of victory, one must suffer
defeat and have to listen to the joyous cries of the winner. 

FORM:

- Enjambment or run-on lines occur in this poetry, where there is no punctuation at the
end of a line. Lines and stanzas are cut-off in the middle of a thought, only to resume on
the next line. This keeps us rushing to the next line to see what happens next, just as the
poet's thoughts remain unbroken.
- The form of the poem is a poem consisting of three quatrains. Quatrain: Four-lined
stanza

DICTION:

- Diction stated in the poem consists of “Sorest, Forbidden and Agonized”


- It is a softly worded poem for a serious matter.

TONE:

- I would say that the tone of “Success is Counted Sweetest” is mournful. It laments the
“agony” of those who suffer in defeat not just once, but always. It is also sad, and the
reason for this is that in line 9, the poet says, "as he defeated – dying," and dying is a sad
event.
IMAGERY:

Metaphor’s Imagery:

“Success is counted sweetest”

- In this line, success is comparing to something being sweet.

“To comprehend a nectar”

- In this line, nectar is referring to the sweetness of victory.

Symbol’s Imagery:

“Not one of all the purple host”

- The poet used purple to represents a kind of royalty or superiority, since purple was
historically a color reserved for kings and queens.

“Who took the flag today”

- The poet used the word "flag" as a symbol for victory in this line. When the poet is talking
about the taken flag, she was referring to the civil war where if you took the enemy’s flag
it was a symbol of a final victory.

“On whose forbidden ear”

- T he poet used the term "forbidden ear" to describe a person who is dead or dying and
yet is listening.

Personification Imagery:

“Requires sorest need”

- We all know the need cannot be sore but humans do.

“Burst agonized and clear”

- Burst has been compared to human. As we all know, burst or this kind of sound cannot
be agonized, however humans can.
RHYME:

- The rhyme scheme of the poem is abcb – that is, in each stanza the last syllable of the
second line rhymes with the last syllable of the fourth line.

Example:

Success is counted sweetest A


By those who ne’er succeed B
To comprehend a nectar C
Requires sorest need B

As he defeated – dying – A
On whose forbidden ear B
The distant strains of triumph C
Burst agonized and clear! B

METRE:

- Iambic Trimeter: It is a type of meter having three iambs per line. An iamb is a metrical
foot with an unstressed syllable followed a stressed syllable. The poem follows iambic
trimeter such as, “By those who ne’er succeed”. The word “that” is the unstressed
syllable followed by the stressed syllable which are the word “ne’er” and “succeed”.

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