An Annotation of Emily Dickinson's I Taste A Liquor Never Brewed
This poem by Emily Dickinson is much harder to figure out compared to her usual poems. She writes about a topic that is not normally written about at this time especially by a woman. At first glance, it is thought that this poem is about liquor and all of the bad things that go along with it, when in all reality it is a poem about sheer happiness. Dickinson is speaking not of a high derived from any alcoholic beverage, but rather of one acquired from life itself.
I taste a liquor never brewed (214)
Emily Dickinson
I taste a liquor never brewed--
From tankards scooped in Pearl--
Not all the Vats upon the Rhine
Yield such an Alcohol!
Inebriate of Air--am I--
And Debauchee of Dew--
Reeling--thro endless summer days--
From inns of Molten Blue--
When "Landlords" turn the drunken Bee
Out of the Foxglove's door--
When butterflies--renounce their "drams"--
I shall but drink the more!
Till Seraphs swing their snowy Hats--
And saints-- to windows run--
To see the little Tippler
Leaning against the Sun--
Despite the existence of metaphorical comparisons with drunkenness and liquor, this is definitely not a poem about any form of chemical intoxication. It is an expression of the author's love for a "drunken state"', created by how wonderful she believes life to be.
In the second line, I realized the genuine depth of Emily Dickinson's affection for life. Here, she wrote, "From tankards scooped in Pearl," indicating special beer-drinking glasses, outfitted in pearl rather than in ceramic or in clay. According to my research, these were used during her time to drink in a more exquisite, elaborate fashion, usually when one had a notable fondn...
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...y. It was the little things that gave her joy and pleasure. Just being surrounded by nature and other creatures gave her the happiness that others need marriage and money to find.
Many of Dickinson's poems focus on the themes of life, love, and nature. This one has a little bit of all of those themes tied into it. It describes her love of life and nature by comparing it to the feeling one gets when they are drunk. Dickinson is very inspirational in this poem by showing us that there are many things in life to be greatful for and that we should experience this sense of joy and tranquility when we are surrounded by the simple pleasures of life that have been given to us all.
Works Cited
Dickinson, Emily. "314." The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Ed. Thomas H. Johnson. Boston: Little, 1960.
Encyclopedia Britannica. 12/05/01. Online. www.britannica.com.
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Dickinson, Emily. "Because I could not stop for Death." Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M.h. Abrams. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc, 1993. 726.
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