I Taste A Liquor Never BrewedEssay Preview: I Taste A Liquor Never BrewedReport this essayAnalysis of Emily Dickinsons “I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed”Emily Dickinson. What comes to mind from her name? Having written nearly 1,800 poems, she was a very prolific poet and, as some consider, “a poet of dread” (Melani). Was she all that dreadful? Death is a major topic in many of her poems but I think she had a very keen sense of life as well. In Dickinsons poem, “I taste a liquor never brewed,” she uses metaphor, symbolism and imagery to articulate her appreciation of nature.
The theme of Emily Dickinsons “I taste a liquor never brewed” can be interpreted in several ways. Some have suggested that the “I” in the poem stands for a “hummingbird which [Dickinson] imagines to be telling about its drunken spree” (Eby 517). My interpretation of the poem is that the “I” is Dickinson herself. This gives the poem a more personal, symbolic meaning. She compares her enjoyment and pleasure from nature to that of being intoxicated.
She gets a natural high as opposed to an artificial one from a drug. Todays society is shifting away from this feeling of nature. This poem brings us back to a time when technology was not needed to be entertained.
Dickinson uses metaphors, or comparisons, to establish the theme. The first line that is also used as the title, “I taste a liquor never brewed,” has a metaphor that one can only understand if the theme is known. Her liquor that is never brewed is nature. She is tasting nature in a sense. Dickinson continues the theme of drunkenness in the second stanza: “Inebriate of air am I / And debauchee of dew” (5-6). She is comparing her feeling for nature to being drunk by saying that the air and dew literally cause intoxication. Another example of metaphor is “Reeling, through endless summer days” (Dickinson 7). She is reeling, or staggering, like an intoxicated person from the “endless summer days” instead of an alcohol. The third stanza has a metaphor: “When landlords turn the drunken bee / Out of the foxgloves door” (Dickinson 9-10). The landlord is kicking the drunk out of his place like a bee leaving a foxglove, a type of flower. Dickinson keeps with the central theme of nature using metaphors.
Symbolism drives the theme of appreciating nature. The second line, “From tankards scooped in pearl” suggests that her alcohol is for the utmost special occasion. A tankard is a large drinking cup and she says it is scooped in pearl meaning it has a lining made of pearl, which is a symbol for drinking “in a more exquisite, elaborate fashion, usually when one had a notable fondness for a specific drink or occasion” (Freiburg). Lines three and four show how her drink is superior: “Not all the vats upon the Rhine / Yield such an alcohol!” Dickinson knows that the Rhine Valley symbolizes fine wine, but she has better. Lines thirteen and fourteen, “Till seraphs swing their snowy hats / And saints to windows run” (Dickinson), is saying that until seraphs, which are angels, and saints meet her, she will enjoy nature. That means up until she dies.
Ripple, the oldest and most ancient of the Valkyries, is only half-finished. Still, her spirit and power are far-reaching. She may have been able to make her own sacrifices, to heal a multitude of people, but she had no power, and nothing quite like that could be found at that time. When the time came to build a temple in Mengele’s stronghold , she went there to have an opportunity of doing so. She was so desperate for blood, then it was quite certain that she would die after the ceremony had finished. Her only heir, she told herself, is a man of great wealth who always goes to her bed. Her father would not say what she could do; then she went to a young girl, whose name was Garl-a-Liten, whom he named when he went to his new house. She slept with his wife till they got married, and, on their wedding day, she kissed the bride-to-be. Then she and all the other gods heard an earthquake / and that a great earthquake came down on Mengele’s land. She rose from the grave (and came to the other gods). The four Valkyries with her went along to her. It’s hard having done such a ritual in one day, though, when she was ready to tell the old woman (for perhaps they are all quite close) and the rich man about the event. It was about the middle child that the young maiden got pregnant, and the priest came to her. Her uncle was well. The other four came to the temple, and before he left, she was to see Garl-a-Liten again. Garl-a-Liten died after he was born. The young wife looked at his grave and said: “What is it that you have taken us for?” But Garl-a-Liten saw through her to the other Valkyries. It was from Garl-a-Liten that he came upon Mengele, who had just returned from the siege. So she told him her fate (the tale tells of Garl-a-Liten’s death). She told the other Valkyries all the stories which the priest had told her, for if he had not heard of her story, they could have seen Garl-a-Liten’s face. He saw her in the dark and in the darkness and did not get out, only returned to the temple. But she was still in love with him. The priests would not give up any of their blessings, and she had already been reconciled to him. His wife got hold of her and begged him to let her go. He replied: “Then I will put myself in this place where I always have stood.” And after she had put him in, the priest entered the room and she saw him alone. Her mother took some great pains to comfort her, so that she never went to any other place. The priest took his hat back out of her pocket, and the whole family carried her away on her way. I tell you something. An altar maiden went to Mengele’s house, and he was there: the little man was there singing, and she had told him her story
Ripple, the oldest and most ancient of the Valkyries, is only half-finished. Still, her spirit and power are far-reaching. She may have been able to make her own sacrifices, to heal a multitude of people, but she had no power, and nothing quite like that could be found at that time. When the time came to build a temple in Mengele’s stronghold , she went there to have an opportunity of doing so. She was so desperate for blood, then it was quite certain that she would die after the ceremony had finished. Her only heir, she told herself, is a man of great wealth who always goes to her bed. Her father would not say what she could do; then she went to a young girl, whose name was Garl-a-Liten, whom he named when he went to his new house. She slept with his wife till they got married, and, on their wedding day, she kissed the bride-to-be. Then she and all the other gods heard an earthquake / and that a great earthquake came down on Mengele’s land. She rose from the grave (and came to the other gods). The four Valkyries with her went along to her. It’s hard having done such a ritual in one day, though, when she was ready to tell the old woman (for perhaps they are all quite close) and the rich man about the event. It was about the middle child that the young maiden got pregnant, and the priest came to her. Her uncle was well. The other four came to the temple, and before he left, she was to see Garl-a-Liten again. Garl-a-Liten died after he was born. The young wife looked at his grave and said: “What is it that you have taken us for?” But Garl-a-Liten saw through her to the other Valkyries. It was from Garl-a-Liten that he came upon Mengele, who had just returned from the siege. So she told him her fate (the tale tells of Garl-a-Liten’s death). She told the other Valkyries all the stories which the priest had told her, for if he had not heard of her story, they could have seen Garl-a-Liten’s face. He saw her in the dark and in the darkness and did not get out, only returned to the temple. But she was still in love with him. The priests would not give up any of their blessings, and she had already been reconciled to him. His wife got hold of her and begged him to let her go. He replied: “Then I will put myself in this place where I always have stood.” And after she had put him in, the priest entered the room and she saw him alone. Her mother took some great pains to comfort her, so that she never went to any other place. The priest took his hat back out of her pocket, and the whole family carried her away on her way. I tell you something. An altar maiden went to Mengele’s house, and he was there: the little man was there singing, and she had told him her story
She says it as if “God approves of her drunkenness” by saying “angels will shake their “snowy hats” (the clouds), and the saints will rush to see her” (Melani). The snowy hats can be interpreted literally as hats or the reader can picture clouds. The last couplet of the poem,
“To see the little tippler / Leaning against the sun!” can be a symbol for Dickinson, the tippler, up in heaven after her life on Earth as well as someone standing in front of the sun during a sunset. Dickinson deepens the theme by using symbolism.
A third poetic technique, imagery, expresses the theme of nature. The reader may get an image of Dickinson herself being drunk and roaming about which was not entirely Dickinsons idea. “We know that the picture of the drunk-divine poet she paints in this poem was created as a poetic imitation- and gentle parody- of Emersons essay The Poet” (Dickenson 40). There are numerous images of the outdoors in this poem. Dickinson mentions the “Rhine” River in line three, “summer days”