Potpourri Unit 2

I taste a liquor never brewed
Emily Dickinson

In I taste a liquor never brewed, Dickinson using comparisons in order to convey her meaning through her work. She compares the feeling of being intoxicated to being overwhelmed in one's surroundings. The speaker notices many different things about nature while she is 'intoxicated.' She becomes intoxicated as she is overwhelmed with nature. The speaker says that "when butterflied-renounce their "drams-I shall but drink the more!"(Dickinson, 797). This shows that the more nature that she becomes overwhelmed, the more nature she wishes to take in. The speaker clearly appreciates all of the forms of nature. The phenomenon felt from all of the nature can be compared to the phenomenon of intoxication.  As the speaker encounters more enjoyable aspects of nature, she continues to express how she wishes to enjoy these beauties of nature until the day that she dies. The speaker does however believe that the power of nature outweighs the power of alcohol. She says that "not all the Vats upon the Rhine yield such an alcohol!"(Dickinson, 797). This indicates that the speaker feels as though the feelings provoked by nature can be better felt than some of the effects of alcohol.