Success Is Counted Sweetest Emily Dickinson Analysis
In the poems “Success is Counted Sweetest” and “I had been hungry all the years” Emily Dickinson contrasts themes of fulfillment and desire, and explores the role of perspective in how both are understood. In “Success is Counted Sweetest” fulfillment is viewed from a place of desire, and “I had been hungry all the years” vice versa, however in both works Dickinson portrays a paradox of simultaneous possession and need. “Success is Counted Sweetest” describes a dying soldier witnessing the celebration of the battle’s victors, and the themes of fulfillment and desire are manifest in the protagonist. His fulfillment comes in the form of comprehension and appreciation of the victory he lost, but the clarity obtained through defeat only strengthens