Wednesday, September 14, 2011

I taste a liquor never brewed

"When Butterflies-renounce their "drams"- I shall but drink the more!" - Emily Dickinson
I would love to start by directing your attention back to the picture above. It is totally awesome, especially because this poem specifically talks about a "drunken Bee". Granted, none of the things in this poem should be taken literally. Which brings me to my actual point. This extended metaphor compares alcoholic intoxication with the intoxication of nature's beauty. The speaker feels that the air, dew, bees, butterflies, and nature in general give off a comparable thrill and excitement as alcohol. The more the speaker sees in the beautiful land surrounding him/her, the more enthralled they become. This drunkenness stems from beauty, but  is set to the extreme of liquor. Dickinson seems to enjoy giving hints on how to analyze her poems in the titles. From the beginning, the speaker say the liquor they're speaking about has never been brewed. That's because no one can brew nature; it's not alcohol. Nature is something almost magical that can intoxicate one's soul.

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