Success is Counted Sweetest- Emily Dickinson

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

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

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

-Emily Dickinson

I was going through a stack of poetry I had lying around. It was from a collection of poems bound together after Dickinson died. Dickinson was my hero for a while as an adolescent, but now I think I relate more fully to her. She never did succeed in life. She had a dismal marriage, as was typical of the time, struggled with health and happiness, struggled financially and then died. Her friends were cleaning out her bedroom when they found a trunk full of poetry. They searched her desk and found bits of parchment everywhere with scribbled thoughts and ink-blotted philosophies. Despite her desire to be published during her life, no one ever saw potential in her. I think society and her husband suffocated her. Her words I typed above are flavored with symbolism, specifically the second stanza. "The purple host" is symbolic of royalty who claim victory. But, as Dickinson so eloquently states, those holding the flag know nothing of victory compared to those who actually fought for it. I guess we always want most what we never have. She says that we value most what we do not have; those who know failure appreciate success more than the successful. Then she goes on to say those who hold the flag don't understand liberty, or victory, like those who suffered for it. Those who have become accustomed to success cannot possibly comprehend personal victory without knowing the face of failure. I have come to the conclusion that failure is one of the most human things one can experience. Although our society and environment influence us, nothing is more dominate in defining our individuality than our struggles and weaknesses. It's almost beautiful, actually, the process of failure.

Oh, I decided to pick a piece of art to go with my blog each week. It just seemed wrong to not have a visual to accompany my rants! :)