The poem “Success is counted sweetest," is composed of three stanzas, four lines each. The rhythmic pattern makes the poem flow together, using the rhyme scheme ABCB in the short shifting stanzas, so that the second and fourth lines in each stanza establish the stanzas only rhyme. Throughout the poem, Dickinson uses rhyme, imagery, irony, color, and metaphors to incorporate the theme that the one who holds success dearest to them is the one who never succeeds. In this poem, the loser knows the meaning of victory better than the winners. The implication is that he has "won" this knowledge by paying a price so high of suffering of defeat and death.
The poet proposes in the first stanza, lines 1-4, that success is the ultimate triumph and is sweetest to those who desperately desire it but never obtain it. Some people work and struggle so hard to reach a goal, but somehow, even when success is right there at their fingertips, it still remains just beyond their reach when it should be so readily obtained. The fortunate ones who already have success, on the other hand, do not seem to appreciate it as much as those who have to fight for, yearn for, and struggle to grasp such “nectar”. To those who so easily obtain success, it can almost seem that success to them is just natural. To them, maybe success is just some easily completed task or just an everyday common occurrence. Just like someone who was born into money and riches and has all they could ever dream of. They may not appreciate a new car or new clothes the exact same way as someone who has to struggle to work towards this goal only to save just enough money to get only half of what they want or need. The first stanza is ended with “To comprehend a nectar, Requires sorest need” (lines 3-4). It makes you feel as though in order to truly know how glorious success can possibly be, that you have to have the greatest need of such success.
Emily Dickinson uses metaphors to p...