I taste a liquor never brewed
I taste a liquor never brewed -From Tankards scooped in Pearl -Not all the Vats upon the Rhine
Yield such an Alcohol!
Inebriate of Air -- am I -And Debauchee of Dew -Reeling -- thro endless summer days -From inns of Molten Blue -When "Landlords" turn the drunken Bee
Out of the Foxglove's door -When Butterflies -- renounce their "drams" -I shall but drink the more!
Till Seraphs swing their snowy Hats -And Saints -- to windows run -To see the little Tippler
Leaning against the -- Sun –
-Emily Dickinson
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Jessica Kocan
AP Literature & Composition
December 11, 2009
Explication: “I taste a liquor never brewed”
The simple pleasures of life are often overlooked and unappreciated. Many people do not
stop to notice the small, ordinary aspects of life that are actually wonderful; however, this is not
true of all people. Some people do find joy in simple pleasures, such as nature. Emily
Dickinson’s “I taste a liquor never brewed” uses alliterations, rhymes, and metaphors to explain
the high, drunken sensation that some people feel from the simple natures of life.
Dickinson’s poem uses alliterations, or repetition of initial consonant sounds, to reinforce
its main theme of being drunk off of nature. Line 6 of the poem states, “And Debauchee of
Dew--.” The “d” sound that begins the word “debauchee” is the same sound that begins the
word “dew.” In addition, the poem contains alliteration in line 13, which reads, “Till seraphs
swing their snowy hats.” The words “seraphs,” “swings,” and “snowy” all begin with the same
“s” sound. The alliteration makes the poem more complete, organized (coordinated and puttogether), and sophisticated, and therefore helps the poem gain esteem, value, and appreciation.
In turn, the poem’s high esteem, value, and appreciation parallel nature’s high esteem, value, and
appreciation (in the speaker’s view). The alliteration emphasizes the importance some people
place in the wonders of nature and the happiness they can feel by valuing nature and its simple
pleasures.
In addition to alliteration, “I taste a liquor never brewed” uses rhymes to highlight the joy
and pleasure that nature can bring. A rhyme is the repetition of the accented vowel sound and
any succeeding consonant sounds. It is masculine rhyme when the rhyme involves only one
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syllable, and it is called a feminine rhyme when the rhyme involves two or more syllables. In the
second stanza of the poem, the last word in line 6 rhymes with the final word in line 8. Line 6
states, “And Debauchee of Dew--.” Line 8 states, “From inns of molten blue.” The words
“dew” and “blue” both have the one-syllable “oo” sound at the end. Clearly, this is an example
of a masculine rhyme. Also, stanza three contains a masculine rhyme. Line 10 reads, “Out of
the Foxglove’s door--,” and line 12 reads, “I shall but drink the more!” The word “door”
contains the “or” sound that is also present in the word “more.” Again, a masculine rhyme
strengthens the theme of the poem. In addition, the final stanza also contains a masculine rhyme.
Line 14 says, “And Saints—to windows run--,” and line 16 says, “Leaning against the—Sun--.”
The words “run” and “sun” are both one-syllable words that end in the sound “un,” which makes
these words yet another example of masculine rhyme. The use of masculine rhyming highlights
the many small, individual words in the poem. Rhyming then shows how these individual words
can be tied together to work mutually to form a great, well-developed poem. Rhyming turns
simple words into complex, remarkable literary devices. Paralleling the function of rhyming, the
poem states that nature acts in the same way. There are numerous, tiny elements of nature.
These elements are all tied together to form the environment as we know it, which is something
amazing. The wonderful composition of the small marvels of nature is what makes the speaker
high off of nature. Obviously, in this poem, rhyming supports the idea of people being high off
nature, which is so simple, yet so marvelous.
Finally, Dickinson’s poem extensively uses metaphors to once again support the poem’s
theme. A metaphor is a direct comparison of two unlike things and is created when a figurative
term is substituted for the literal term. In the poem, lines 9 and 10, which state, “When the
‘Landlords’ turn the drunken Bee / Out of the Foxglove’s door--,” contain a metaphor. A
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foxglove is a flower that bees drink nectar from. However, no bees are actually getting drunk
from this nectar, and no “landlord” is actually dispersing the bees from the flower. This idea of
bees becoming extremely intoxicated from nectar is simply a figurative image, which is
compared to the literal image of the speaker becoming extremely intoxicated from nature. Lines
11 and 12 contain an additional metaphor, which read, “When Butterflies—renounce their
‘drams’--/I shall but drink the more!” Figuratively, these lines mean that when butterflies hand
over their shots of alcohol, the speaker will still continue to drink. However, it is obvious that
butterflies are not actually going to be taking shots of alcohol. So literally, these lines mean that
even after the speaker is extremely joyous, he will still continue to find more joy in nature. In
other words, nature will never stop intoxicating the speaker. The two previous metaphors are
part of the extended metaphor that starts with the first line and continues through out the poem.
The first line states, “I taste a liquor never brewed--.” This metaphor compares liquor never
brewed to nature. Through this metaphor, the speaker is trying to explain that even the finest
liquor does not compare to the greatness of nature. Evidently, this extended metaphor is
indirectly stating the theme of the poem and reinforces the idea that nature brings the viewer a
joyous, drunken feeling.
In conclusion, Emily Dickinson’s “I taste a liquor never brewed” uses three main literary
devices to emphasize the idea that sometimes, when people take the time to notice the small
wonders of nature, they can become drunk off of these marvels. The poem uses alliterations to
display the value some people see in nature. Also, the poem uses rhymes to support the claim
that the small elements of nature can come together to form something amazing that causes deep
intoxication. Finally, the poem uses simple metaphors as part of an extended metaphor, which
states the idea that nature is magnificent and can cause profound drunken, joy, and pleasure.
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Works Cited
Dickinson, Emily. “I taste a liquor never brewed.” Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and
Sense. Ed. Thomas R. Arp and Greg Johnson. Boston, MA: Thomas Wadsworth, 2006.
725-726.
Date
Name
Topic/Title
Area
Ideas and Content
Organization
Word Choice
Sentence Fluency
Voice
Lower Order Concerns
Presentation (Research Guide)
Insight
Support
Introduction and Conclusion
TOTAL
GRADE out of 50
Score
Comments
10
10
10
10
10
9
10
9
10
10
98
49 nice job tackling Emily; you demonstrate a very good understanding of the
poem; your examples are well chosen and you organize your analysis nicely;
see comments regarding alliteration and revise LOCs