Emily Dickenson

Emily Dickenson was the first American poet I liked. So I relish any time to read her work. Four Dickenson poems stuck out to me this time around.

"Sauces is counted sweetest" caught me off guard. Usually success is counted sweetest to those that work hard and end up succeeding. Not those who work hard and end up failing. And that those who have not achieved it are the people who can define victory seems, for lack of a better term, inaccurate. I could agree with the "success is counted sweetest" statement, but I'm not sure of the "can tell the definition" statement. How can one define something they have no knowledge about? The last stanza is truly heart wrenching. To think of working towards a goal and then to die--defeated--within earshot of said goal must indeed be agonizing.

"Much madness is divinest sense" proved a tough difficult to understand at first (the word divinest set me running in two different directions.) But once understood it is so true! Assent to the madness you know is wrong and your accepted but dare to disagree or speak out and your considered an extremist and carted off.

"I taste a liquor never brewed" has become one of my favorite Dickenson poems. To me--and I believe all of Dickenson's poems are up to interpretation--it is about living life to the fullest. Living in excess as one would to become drunk. Enjoy life--every moment--regardless of what others do around you. Live for no other reason than enjoyment--for this is the greatest and sweetest reason there is.

"Tell all the truth but tell it slant." I have heard of this poem so many times but never taken the time to read it. I'm glad it was assigned or else I may have forgotten about it. But I'm not sure I agree with it. Is the truth really too harsh for people to deal with?Does it depend on the person or is it really that "...every man be blind"? Id o like how it says "Tell all the truth..." Perhaps the statement of the poem is to not be brutally honest, but still honest.