Tis So Much Joy!
poem 172
Tis So Much Joy! - meaning Summary
Joy as Wager and Risk
Dickinson treats joy as a risky wager that makes life vivid. The speaker frames exhilarating success and possible failure as equally bearable: losing brings only the “worst” known, while winning might overwhelm. Life, death, bliss, and breath are presented as plain facts, reducing metaphysical terror. The poem mixes a gambler’s nerve with religious imagery; victory is celebrated but also feared as something that could “extinguish” the self. Overall it explores the tension between daring action, the calm acceptance of loss, and the unsettling prospect of transcendent triumph.
Read Complete Analyses‘Tis so much joy! ‘Tis so much joy! If I should fail, what poverty! And yet, as poor as I, Have ventured all upon a throw! Have gained! Yes! Hesitated so This side the Victory! Life is but Life! And Death, but Death! Bliss is, but Bliss, and Breath but Breath! And if indeed I fail, At least, to know the worst, is sweet! Defeat means nothing but Defeat, No drearier, can befall! And if I gain! Oh Gun at Sea! Oh Bells, that in the Steeples be! At first, repeat it slow! For Heaven is a different thing, Conjectured, and waked sudden in And might extinguish me!
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