Elizabeth Lujan
Eng 242
Dr. Ellis
4 January 2011
Emily Dickinson - The Psychological Impact
The art of Emily Dickinson’s poetry has been praised, analyzed, criticized and dissected
by scholars far more knowledgeable and insightful than myself. However, upon first reading
Dickinson for the first time, I was enchanted with the psychological power of her poetry.
Whether she was writing for personal emotional release, to get published or a myriad of other
reasons, her metaphorical usage and unique writing style set the stage for an intense
psychological response in her reader. An initiate to the world of poetry will find themselves
reading a passage several times, often gaining another perspective of the meaning, or even
gaining a deeper understanding of a simple piece of nature previously taken for granted. In the
following pages I will discuss several of Dickinson’s verses and will do my own dissecting,
looking at metaphor, perception and the psychological impact. Considering these three things
also requires a look at the possible meanings of the verses for Dickinson herself, or at least my
interpretation of them.
Perhaps one of the best poems for this analysis is “I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed”, for
many reasons. A cursory rapid reading of the poem creates a sense of childlike joy, though
initially without fully understanding why. The initial response is visceral, impacting the psyche
of the reader with words that bring to mind lazy summer days, running with drunken abandon
through fields with friends or laughing hysterically with the sheer joy of life. Take for example,
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the first line, also the title, “I taste a liquor never brewed – “. The combination of the words
liquor and never brewed evoke feelings of abandonment, and fantasy such as one feels when one
is a child. As humans when we taste something the majority of our senses and body are involved
in the act, therefore the use of the word taste creates for the reader a total sensory perception of
the abandonment and fantasy she wants you to feel. In her article “’I Taste a Liquor Never
Brewed’: A Variant Reading” Cecil Eby tackles the word “I” in the opening line, claiming that
Dickinson is referring to a hummingbird on a drunken spree rather than the author herself as the
participant in the poem. Eby goes on to say that this creates an impersonal tone in the poem
(517). Similarly, Eby interprets “liquor never brewed” as the nectar the hummingbird is drunk
on (517). While Eby is interpreting Dickinson’s poetry in her own way as all readers must do,
when viewed from a psychological impact the impression remains the same. The hummingbird
evokes feelings of abandonment and fantasy, as does the nectar, setting the tone for the childlike
joy of the rest of the poem. “From Tankards scooped in Pearl/Not all the Frankfort Berries/Yield
such an Alcohol!” Tankards, while being an adult word, in conjunction with scooped pearls
draws the reader back to childhood and images of summer parties with sunlight sparkling off of
dewy glasses. Again, this draws the psyche to times of effortless fun and timeless joy.
The second and third stanzas are the sudden cold rainstorm in the middle of summer.
Dickinson splashes the poem with the adult joys that are tempered with worry and stress,
creating a liminal space between absolute abandon and the responsibilities of adulthood. The
prolific use of adult words associated with drinking and drunkenness tie the disparate pieces
together, allowing the reader to feel the rightness of the abandonment. For instance, inebriate by
itself is a word with negative connotations, but when placed with “of air”, the threshold is
crossed and abandon becomes not only fun, but allowable. Douglas Anderson says, in his article
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“Presence and Place in Emily Dickinson’s Poetry”, that “Dickinson's understanding and use of
the idea of ‘presence’ as a synecdoche for transcendent experience can be unusually subtle.”
(Anderson 213). As a reference to “I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed”, this is especially true.
While Anderson is referring to several poems discussed in his article, the use of presence and
place is apropos for this poem as well. Anderson argues that the use of negatives in one of her
poems, like the words “Inebriate” and “Debauchee”, do not carry any sense of puzzlement or the
following frustration, creating a sense of “peace without knowledge” (214) that is essential in the
poem we are discussing. In the end of the stanza the “’Landlords’ turn the drunken Bee/out of
the Foxglove’s door”, and yet “When Butterflies – renounce their ‘drams’/I shall but drink the
more!” The presence of the ‘landlords’ could be a negative, but the reader will keep drinking of
life, though all the others, “Butterflies”, have given up.
In the end the adults, written in as “Seraphs” and “Saints” run to watch the fun. The
reader feels almost sorry for these poor adults, because all they get to do is watch the little
“Tippler” have all the fun. This last segment ties the rest of the poem together, creating the
circumference of the poem. In the abstract, it can be said to represent the circle of life as this
poem brings out the child in the reader, subtly reminds that the ties of the adult still bind, then
ties it closed with the jealousy an adult sometimes feels watching a child at place, a bird in flight
and yearns for that absolute abandonment and aches for that fantasy just one more time.
Emily Dickinson demonstrates in this poem, “I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed”, a unique
knack for snagging the psyche of her reader. Each reader will feel the poem differently because
the words she uses will mean something different to each individual, as discussed in the
beginning. However, I can say without hesitation, that the psychological impact of her words
will remain with me forever.
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Works Cited
Anderson, Douglas. “Presence and Place in Emily Dickinson's Poetry.” The New England
Quarterly 57.2 1984: 205-224. JSTOR. The New England Quarterly, Inc. Web. 3 Jan.
2011.
Eby, Cecil D. “’I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed’: A Variant Reading.” American Literature 36.4
1965:,516-518 JSTOR. Duke University Press. Web. 4 Jan. 2011.
Dickinson, Emily. “I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed.” The Norton Anthology: American
Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York. Norton & Company. 2008. 1203. Print.