Success In Emily Dickinson's Poetry

Does failure help one to value success or is it better to just focus on the successful times?

Emily Dickinson wrote the poem “Success is counted sweet” describing a situation where an army member was on the ground dying. He was defeated so he could understand how valuable success is. The band Queen is the artist of their song “We Are The Champions” describing how there were hard times never defeat. They also describe how sweet their success really is. While the song “We Are The Champions” by Queen and the poem “Success is counted sweet” by Emily Dickinson are similar due to the common theme of success, they are different because the poem believes that defeat must come before success, however the song is all about success. These works go together like mascots at a sporting event, most of the time they are present but they go together nicely.

The author Emily Dickinson points out the theme of her poem “Success is counted sweetest” that one must be conquered before they can really value success within the first two lines. Dickinson writes, Success is counted sweetest/By those who ne’er succeed. She uses the theme of her poem “Success is counted sweetest” to teach the readers a lesson and get them prepared to read the rest

In the third line of the first stanza, she writes, “To comprehend a nectar”. When the word nectar comes to mind, the denotation would be a sugary fluid that is produced by plants. However, when thinking about connotation, the words, sweet, tasteful, sticky, and nutritious come to mind. The word nectar is also a symbol for being the drink of the gods, which translates to having attainment. This success is not fully valued though until one encounters loss or defeat beforehand. Although the use of connotation, denotation, and symbol were very well written, her use of alliteration is also very