This Merit Hath the Worst

This Merit Hath the Worst - meaning Summary

Finality After the Last Blow

Dickinson’s short poem meditates on irreversibility and the dignity of defeat. It argues that some losses cannot be undone once fate delivers its final blow. Images of the maimed who can only pause and the deer whose allure ends when it yields to the hound emphasize limits to recovery and reward. The tone is resigned, observing how merit and resistance lose value after ultimate failure.