Week 4: Katherine Sung

Emily Dickinson’s poem, #214, is written as a quatrain with alternating lines of tetrameter (4 measures or 8 syllables) and trimeter (3 measures or 6 syllables) in each stanza of four lines. Aside from the first stanza, the each stanza follows a rhyming scheme of ABCB. The speaker uses the metaphors of drunkenness or inebriation throughout the poem to describe his or her transcendental experience with nature.

In the first stanza,

I taste a liquor never brewed,
From tankards scooped in pearl;
Not all the vats upon the Rhine
Yield such an alcohol!

The speaker claims that he or she has "taste[d] a liquor neverbrewed." This is an oxymoron because all alcohol (the liquor being referred to) must be fermented or brewed in order to be liquor. This presents a question: does the liquor really exist? He or she goes on to say that it was served in "tankards scooped in pearl." This phrase presents to the reader, a picture of a cup (especially for drinking liquor) decorated in pearls, and also gives the reader a feeling that the liquor is exquisite, expensive, and luxurious. The speaker then goes on to describe the liquor itself by saying that "not all the vats upon the Rhine [could] yield such an alcohol." The Rhine is a river in Germany, an area that is famous for its wine.

In the second stanza,

Inebriate of air am I,
And debauchee of dew,
Reeling, through endless summer days,
From inns of molten blue.

The speaker states that they are inebriate or drunk. The structure of the first sentence also suggests being drunk because it differs from the others. Instead of saying "I am inebriate of air," a total reverse of the pattern is used, similar to drunk incoherent speech. We assume that the speaker is drunk because of the alcohol that was drunk in the first stanza but they go on to elaborate that they are drunk because of "air" and "dew." Air and dew are both part of nature, so we can assume that the speaker is saying that they are drunk on nature. The fact that the liquor was "never brewed" also supports this and the drunkenness can be perceived as a metaphor for how nature makes them feel: drunk, sensual, and timeless. The use of the word "reeling" also supports the drunken tone throughout the text. Because this stanza is based on nature, we can assume that the "molten blue" the speaker is referring to is the sky and is a very good use of imagery. When the word "molten" is used, we usually think of something warm and melted, kind of like lava; there is a kind of layered texture to it. In the last sentence, "from the inns of molten blue," we learn that the earth is the speaker’s home, or perhaps, rather temporary home, through the use of the word "inn."

The third stanza,

When landlords turn the drunken bee
Out of the foxglove’s door,
When butterflies renounce their drams,
I shall but drink the more!

The first two lines of the stanza are similar to the third because they both reference stopping drinking. In the first two lines, the "drunken bee" is forced to stop drinking by the landlord, and in the third line, the "butterflies" recognize that they are too drunk and use self control to stop drinking. The fourth line, "I shall but drink the more!" sets the speaker apart from everyone else because he or she is not only continuing to drink but also being proud for doing so (juxtaposition). Using "foxglove," an ornamental, purple-tinted flower, was interesting because this flower is also poisonous to humans. Another interesting point was that the foxglove flower is in the shape of a cup or chalice, which parallels the tankard the speaker drinks out of in the first stanza.

The last stanza,

Till seraphs swing their snowy hats,
And saints to windows run,
To see the little tippler
Leaning against the sun!

is a continuation of the third stanza. The speaker is saying that he or she will drink until the "seraphs swing their snowy hats, and saints to windows run." Seraphs are the highest-ranking angels in heaven and reside above the throne of God. A saint is defined as one of the blessed dead in Heaven. The way the stanza is phrased, offers the idea that heaven is the narrator’s true home and the seraphs and saints are excited and celebrating the return home. The third and fourth line still echo the idea of drunkenness. The "little tippler" in the third line is the speaker referring to his or her tipsy self "leaning against the sun" as if he or she is gaining support from it. Something that was interesting to me was the use of the word "sun" because is it a homonym to the word son, which can be referred to as Jesus Christ.