Tuesday, November 5, 2013

In "Water, is taught by thirst" and "Success is counted sweetest", how is the paradox of each poem resolved?

I am assuming that this is a follow-up question to the
answer that I gave yesterday about these two poems, so I have altered the question to
respond to "Water, is taught by thirst" and "Success is counted sweetest." Remember,
when we think about paradoxes in literature, we are considering a statement that appears
self-contradictory but actually reveals a kind of truth. The test of a good paradox is
if the author can make us see this revelation of truth or not. So, when you talk in your
question about how the paradoxes are "resolved," I take it that this is what you are
referring to.


"Water, is taught by thirst" talks about the
series of emotions that we experience and how we actually learn them, paradoxically
stating that we can only understand these emotions and nouns when we are deprived of
them. So, for example, we only understand water and appreciate its life-giving
properties when we suffer its absence. Likewise, peace is only to be appreciated in the
context of warfare - it is only by experiencing warfare that we can truly appreciate and
be thankful for peace. The most moving example Dickinson gives in this poem is perhaps
"Love, by Memorial Mold," which points towards the sad truth that we only realise how
much we love someone and how important they were to us in our lives when they are dead
and we only have their gravestone to remember them. The poem likewise ends with the
reminder that we can only appreciate the joys of spring and birds singing having lived
through the dark, silent winter. Joy is impossible, Dickinson seems to be saying,
without its corollary, suffering and darkness.


Dickinson
uses a similar technique to present the paradoxical nature of success in "Success is
counted sweetest." The first two lines of this poem establish this paradox
perfectly:


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Success is counted
sweetest


By those who ne'er
succeed.



As the poem
continues, Dickinson resolves this paradox or presents us with its truth by giving us
the example of a soldier, "defeated - dying -" who hears the victorious side celebrating
their victory. It is only through an appreciation of failure and loss that we can truly
understand success.


So, in both these poems Dickinson uses
paradox to great effect, forcing us to see the truth that lies behind these apparently
contradictory statements.

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