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Emily Dickinson is a poet who has written many poems, each poem with its theme. Among the many verses, she wrote a poem by the title ”Success is counted sweetest,” written in 1859 and published in 1864. In her poem, success is explained in a paradoxical way whereby she argues that success is most enjoyed by the people who least have it. The more successful you are, the less you appreciate and enjoy the sensation. In her poem, Emily uses the image of a victorious army and one dying warrior to explain that only those who have suffered defeat can understand and appreciate success.
However, success can be defined as an individual’s desired outcomes (Piaget, 2013). Moreover, different individuals may have different interpretations and understanding of the general word success. Emily speaks about the value of success in her poem, whereby she states that to feel the real essence of success, one must have suffered defeat (Gruenberg, p 3). I agree with Emily’s’ opinion since only those who have worked for success enjoy it most. In my opinion, I tend to think that if success is granted so quickly, people will take it for granted.
However, some people still work extremely hard to achieve success and always appreciate it without having to taste failure. Therefore, an individual can enjoy success without failing first, but this is only possible if one has worked for it. Moreover, there is something like lack whereby one is lucky enough to taste success in the first trial.
Work cited
Gruenberg, Ernest M. “The failures of success.” The Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly. Health and Society (1977): 3-24.
Piaget, Jean. Success and understanding. Routledge, 2013.