I Taste A Liquor Never Brewed [Emily Dickinson]

I Taste A Liquor Never Brewed [214]

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 --

According to me, this poem is a symbol of ecstasy. Dickinson, through this piece of literature, is trying to describe and show us a moment and her experience when she was intoxicated and felt alive due to the beauty of nature.

The first line, “I Taste A Liquor Never Brewed” can pretty much sum up the entire poem. Through this line, Dickinson is trying to tell us that she has ‘tasted’, that is experienced, a liquor (ecstasy), that has never been brewed, which tells us that her ecstasy is not due to real alcohol, but just an experience in itself. She then tells us that the liquor which she has consumed was in tankards (a type of drinking glass). She uses the word ‘Pearl’ here, as Pearls are a precious gem. Thus, she conveys the value of her liquor. This is also, the first reference to nature in this poem, which hints towards her intoxication by it. She goes on to say, that even the vats which yield Rhine Wine, do not yield as good an alcohol as hers is. Thus, further implying the brilliance of her liquor (as it surpasses Rhine Wine, which is a highly regarded white wine).

In the second stanza, Dickinson tells us that she is “Inebriate of Air”, telling us that she is drunk/intoxicated by the air around her. She calls herself a “Debauchee of Dew”. A Debauchee is usually a person who has been corrupted, due to alcohol. And so, when Dickinson says that is a debauchee of Dew, she means that she has been corrupted by Dew, which is her alcohol. The above two examples, also, tell us that she is drunk due to the beauty of nature. The ‘Reeling’ in the next line signifies her drunken state. And so, in the next two lines, she tells us that she is drunk through several summer days, where the sky is blue, indirectly stating, that the sky (i.e. Nature) is the reason of her intoxicated state.

We are then told that she will continue to drink more and more until certain events don’t take place. The first event being, until the ‘Landlords’ of a Foxglove turn away a drunken bee. This sentence has a lot of meaning to it. A few things to be noted are, The ‘Landlords’ are Foxgloves themselves, as they are their own masters. Bees are said to ‘drunk’, thus claiming, that the nectar consumed by them is alcoholic to them. And lastly, the ‘turning away’ by the Foxglove, is a symbol of the time when Foxglove’s will not bloom anymore. The second event being when butterflies renounce their ‘drams’. A dram is a small drink of liquor. And, nectar is drunk by butterflies. Thus, it is being said that until butterflies do not renounce their nectar, she, herself, will continue to drink more and more of her liquor. Since both of these events are unlikely to occur, Dickinson, indirectly, tells us that she will drink her drink forever.

She continues her views into the next stanza. She claims that she will continue to drink until ‘Seraphs’ (angels) swing their ‘snowy hats’ (clouds). And when Saints run towards their windows to witness a spectacle. That of a little Tippler (reference to herself), leaning against the sun. The last line is a metaphor, as she shows herself to be a grander version of a drunk man leaning against a light post (i.e. the Sun, in her case). Except for the fact that she is drunk by the beauty of Nature.

Personally, I feel that this poem is pretty true. We all have times in our lives where we have watched a leaf fall from a tree, slowly settling on the ground. Or looked up to see a drop of rainfall coming towards us. Or, even stood still and felt the wind blowing in our face. And in that moment, we were drunk. We were intoxicated. We were in a moment of ecstasy and feeling. And so, we were drunk. Thus, I feel that this poem is relatable to, which is a part of its own shining beauty.

-AM ∞