Success Is Counted Sweetest

The speaker of Dickinson’s poem begins with what seems like an unarguable truth: that success is “sweetest” (Line 1) to the unsuccessful. The use of the third person makes the speaker sound removed from the issue at hand, as though they are simply relating factual information to the reader of the poem. However, the significance of this matter-of-fact tone deepens in the second line as the speaker asserts that those who appreciate success the most are individuals “who ne’er succeed” (Line 2). The predictable association assumes that those who succeed are most appreciative of success; yet, the second line contradicts this idea, claiming that those who never taste success are the ones who can appreciate it the most.

The second half of the first stanza illustrates this point further with the use of a metaphor. The speaker parallels success with “nectar” (Line 3). Nectar is a sweet substance, one that only the gods and goddesses on Mount Olympus can enjoy; like nectar, success is accessible only to a select few. The inaccessibility of the metaphorical nectar of the poem is linked with the emotional sweetness of success, a feeling that only those who have “sorest need” (Line 4) can “comprehend” (Line 3). Individuals who have ready access to something as sweet and desirable as nectar would be unable to appreciate it.

In the two stanzas that follow, the speaker uses an extended metaphor about war to elaborate on this point. The second stanza opens by describing a situation involving “the purple Host” (Line 5), which refers both to a military troop and to the divine favor of God. This particular military cohort “took the Flag” (Line 6), in part, perhaps, to God’s favor, and the metonymic flag represents victory and, therefore, success. The capitalization of “Flag” (Line 6) alludes to its importance and adds emphasis to this particular noun as a symbol of victory. The military cohort, despite this success, is unable to appreciate its victory; “not one” (Line 5) single individual on the victor’s side can give “the definition” (Line 7) of what “victory” (Line 8) is. The victors are unable to identify or appreciate their own success. It remains unrecognizable to them, something they take for granted.

The other side of the story, as it appears in the third and final stanza, takes the form of the opposite experience of the victors. The perspective of the “defeated” (Line 9) and the “dying” (Line 9) enables the reader to understand the speaker’s beliefs regarding success and failure. The word “dying” is cordoned off from the rest of the line by dashes, causing the reader to falter while reading and drawing attention to the fatal nature of defeat. The faltering nature of this line, due to the dashes, mimics the halting breaths an individual near death may take and heightens the emotional experience of failure.

To emphasize the emotional loss that accompanies defeat and failure, the speaker references the dying individual’s “forbidden ear” (Line 10), implying that there is something the defeated person is not meant to hear: the “distant strains of triumph” (Line 11). All the individual can do is listen passively as the triumphant strains resound, “agonized and clear” (Line 12). The clearness of the “strains” (Line 11) make the victory that much more unbearable, because the expiring individual can hear others being victorious whilst they cannot partake in the celebration; they are kept outside of this experience, desirous of what they will never have.