Success is counted sweetest

SUCCESS is counted sweetest
By those who ne’er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.

Not one of all the purple host	5
Who took the flag to-day
Can tell the definition,
So clear, of victory,

As he, defeated, dying,
On whose forbidden ear	10
The distant strains of triumph
Break, agonized and clear.

Title: The title is explaining how in the poem the narrator is going to tell us when success is most important and enjoyed by a person.

Paraphrase: In this poem Dickenson draws the analogy of a battle or a war in comparison to an everyday success. The analogy is an effective comparison because success is like a won battle, with individual fights which, while they may seem unimportant or trivial, add up to the final victor. The purple host is a victorious person, the soldiers. The forbidden ear belongs to the loser who did not receive success or glory. It is forbidden because having not become successful, the music of triumph holds no joy. I see a man dying in a battlefield, tears of failure running down his cheeks as the victors clear out, taking success with them.

Connation: Diction- sorest; forbidden; distant; strains; break; agonized

Images- “as he defeated, dying” “ took the flag”

Rhyme- succeed and need; day and victory; ear and clear

Consonace- Defeated dying first line of the third stanza

Attitude- Of an awe and respect for success, of understanding for those who do not have it

Shift- The shift occurs at the first line of the third stanza, when it starts talking about the loser and his feelings as opposed to those of the winner.

Theme- In order for one person to be victorious, another person must fail. Victory is appreciated most by those who know what its like to fail and have never had the experience of succeeding.