500 AP English Literature Questions to know by test day
CHAPTER 2. American Poetry
Passage 2. Emily Dickinson, “Success is counted sweetest ...”
Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne’er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.
Not one of all the purple host
Who took the flag to-day
Can tell the definition,
So clear, of victory,
As he, defeated, dying,
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Break, agonized and clear!