Success is counted sweetest

Emily Dickinson’s poem “Success is counted sweetest” was written in 1859 and first published anonymously in the “Brooklyn Daily Union” on 27 April 1864. It was republished in the 1878 anthology “A Masque of Poets” as part of a series of books published without the authors’ names.

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born on 10 December 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts, US, and she died on 15 May 1886 in Amherst, Massachusetts, US, at the age of 55.

Little-known during her life, Dickinson has come to be regarded as one of the most important figures in US poetry. Despite an output of nearly 1,800 poems, only ten poems and one letter were published during her lifetime, and even then usually edited significantly to fit conventional poetic rules. Her poetry was unique for the era, containing short lines, typically lacking titles, and often using slant rhyme as well as unconventional capitalization and punctuation. Some recurring themes in her writing are death and immortality, as well as aesthetics, society, nature, and spirituality. Although Dickinson’s acquaintances were most likely aware of her writing, it was not until after her death—when her younger sister discovered her cache of poems—that her work became public.

External links:

• Watch this video on YouTube
• Wikipedia page on “Success is counted sweetest”
• Wikipedia page on Emily Dickinson