By Madison Nef
Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne’er succeed
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need
Who took the flag today
Can tell the definition
So clear of victory
As he, defeated, dying,
The distant strains of triumph
Break, agonized and clear.
I think that in the first two lines, Dickinson is simply saying that for someone who fails regularly, winning can seem far greater to them than it would seem to someone who is used to winning. If you live without something, and then get to see what it’s like to live with it, albeit for a short time, the time still seems a lot nicer. However, if you are used to living comfortably, it becomes a part of your life and you take it for granted. Too many things are taken for granted- food, water, clean clothing- there are some parts of Africa that have no electricity, barely enough food and water and not enough clothing and/or ways to wash what they do have.
In lines 3-4, I think Dickinson is saying that to see the value of something truly, you have to absolutely need it… not just want it. If you just want something for the sake of wanting it, you don’t ever see its true worth or value at all. Medicine is just medicine, until you are sick and dying and need it to live. Once again, it winds down to taking things for granted. Lines 5-7 befuddled me a bit, but upon thinking over it, I believe Dickinson was trying to say that to those who see victory every day (in war, in politics etc.) it is far more apparent than to the average person who only sees victory every once in a short while.
I believe that lines 8-10 show that as you die, and think about your life (if you are given the chance; Emily’s death was prolonged over the course of a few days), you see that it doesn’t matter how many personal victories you had or how many things you won- because in the end, you’re dying and all you have is your own memories and happiness. No small victory can stop death, nor can a memory of victory. It is better to live your life happily and treat each day as your last, because we all have an undefined timer on us that could run out at any minute. When I die, or when I begin to, I want to be able to look back on my life and feel accomplished, and feel like it was well spent- not wasted worrying about nonsense.
That’s how I interpreted the poem- what do you think? Do you think I was accurate? If not, why? Leave me a comment below, and leave me suggestions for poems to decipher.
Maddie
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