16 pages 32 minutes read

Emily Dickinson

Success Is Counted Sweetest

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1864

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Poem Analysis

Analysis: “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).

Related Titles

By Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

A Bird, came down the Walk

Emily Dickinson

A Bird, came down the Walk

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

A Clock stopped—

Emily Dickinson

A Clock stopped—

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

A narrow Fellow in the Grass (1096)

Emily Dickinson

A narrow Fellow in the Grass (1096)

Emily Dickinson

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
logo

Because I Could Not Stop for Death

Emily Dickinson

Because I Could Not Stop for Death

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

"Faith" is a fine invention

Emily Dickinson

"Faith" is a fine invention

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

Fame Is a Fickle Food (1702)

Emily Dickinson

Fame Is a Fickle Food (1702)

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

Hope is a strange invention

Emily Dickinson

Hope is a strange invention

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

"Hope" Is the Thing with Feathers

Emily Dickinson

"Hope" Is the Thing with Feathers

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

I Can Wade Grief

Emily Dickinson

I Can Wade Grief

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

I Felt a Cleaving in my Mind

Emily Dickinson

I Felt a Cleaving in my Mind

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain

Emily Dickinson

I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking

Emily Dickinson

If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

If I should die

Emily Dickinson

If I should die

Emily Dickinson

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
logo

If you were coming in the fall

Emily Dickinson

If you were coming in the fall

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

I heard a Fly buzz — when I died

Emily Dickinson

I heard a Fly buzz — when I died

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

I'm Nobody! Who Are You?

Emily Dickinson

I'm Nobody! Who Are You?

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

Much Madness is divinest Sense—

Emily Dickinson

Much Madness is divinest Sense—

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

Tell all the truth but tell it slant

Emily Dickinson

Tell all the truth but tell it slant

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

The Only News I Know

Emily Dickinson

The Only News I Know

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

There is no Frigate like a Book

Emily Dickinson

There is no Frigate like a Book

Emily Dickinson