{"id":8223,"date":"2023-03-17T09:12:19","date_gmt":"2023-03-17T16:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=8223"},"modified":"2023-03-17T09:19:03","modified_gmt":"2023-03-17T16:19:03","slug":"emily-dickinson-i-taste-a-liquor-never-brewed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2023\/03\/17\/emily-dickinson-i-taste-a-liquor-never-brewed\/","title":{"rendered":"Emily Dickinson – I taste a liquor never brewed"},"content":{"rendered":"

I taste a liquor never brewed
\nby Emily Dickinson<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

I taste a liquor never brewed \u2014
\nFrom Tankards scooped in Pearl \u2014
\nNot all the Vats upon the Rhine
\nYield such an Alcohol!<\/p>\n

Inebriate of Air \u2014 am I \u2014
\nAnd Debauchee of Dew \u2014
\nReeling \u2014 thro endless summer days \u2014
\nFrom inns of Molten Blue \u2014<\/p>\n

When \u201cLandlords\u201d turn the drunken Bee
\nOut of the Foxglove\u2019s door \u2014
\nWhen Butterflies \u2014 renounce their \u201cdrams\u201d \u2014
\nI shall but drink more!<\/p>\n

Till Seraphs swing their snowy Hats \u2014
\nAnd Saints \u2014 to windows run \u2014
\nTo see the little Tippler
\nLeaning against the \u2014 Sun \u2014<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a> \u2014 from The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson<\/a>, Edited by Thomas H. Johnson<\/font><\/p>\n


\/ Image by Matheus Ferrero<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

I taste a liquor never brewed \u2014
\nFrom Tankards scooped in Pearl\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n

This poem should be read alongside the ecstatic wine poems of the Sufi saints.<\/p>\n

None but the drunkard knows
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the tavern\u2019s secrets \u2014
\nhow could the sober unveil
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the mysteries of that street?
\n~ Fakhruddin Iraqi<\/i><\/p>\n

So let him weep for himself,
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 one who wasted his life
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 never having won a share
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 or measure of this wine.
\n~ Umar ibn al-Farid<\/i><\/p>\n

Wine\u2026 Why do so many mystics from all traditions talk of wine and drunkenness when speaking of ecstatic states of enlightenment? How do I, as a person who does not drink alcohol, understand this sacred wine fixation? Is it just a universally agreed upon metaphor to shock the orthodox? Well, yes, but it is more than that. The mystic\u2019s wine is not wine, yet it is also more than a game of words. This wine is subtle but very real. It can be experienced in a profound, even physical manner.<\/p>\n

Inebriate of Air \u2014 am I \u2014
\nAnd Debauchee of Dew \u2014<\/i><\/p>\n

In certain states, a flowing substance is felt upon the palette, with a taste of ethereal sweetness that can be compared with wine or honey. This is the amrita of yogis, the ambrosia of the Greeks, the prophetic mead of the Norse shamans, the awen of the druids. There is a sensation of drinking a subtle liquid, accompanied by a warming and expanding of the heart. The attention blissfully turns inward, the eyelids grow pleasantly heavy and the gaze may become unfocused. A giddy smile naturally spreads across the face for no apparent reason. When the ecstasy comes on strongly, the body can tremble, sometimes the consciousness even leaves the body.<\/p>\n

With these experiences, it not only makes sense for mystics to use the language of wine. Observers sometimes mistake this state for actual drunkenness.<\/p>\n

This is the drink of initiation.<\/p>\n

To many modern commentators, Emily Dickinson was a victim of unfulfilled love, a recluse who had become obsessed with death. I read this poem and I hear the words of a radiant awakened soul, someone ecstatically reeling through endless summer days.<\/p>\n

Have a beautiful day discovering that sweet, secret dew!<\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: Emily Dickinson<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The Longing in Between: Sacred Poetry from Around the World (A Poetry Chaikhana Anthology)<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThis Dance of Bliss: Ecstatic Poetry from Around the World<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nWomen in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
More Books >><\/a><\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n\n\n
\n\"Emily<\/a>\n<\/td>\n\nEmily Dickinson<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

US (1830 \u2013 1886) Timeline<\/a>
\nSecular or Eclectic<\/a><\/a>
\nChristian<\/a> : Protestant<\/a><\/em>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

Emily Dickinson was born in 1830 to a prominent family in Amherst, Massachusetts. Few of her poems were published during her lifetime, the bulk of her poetry having been discovered after her death in the 1880s. Despite this anonymity during her lifetime, Dickinson has come to be regarded as one of the greatest of American poets. Her unusual use of rhyme, meter, and grammar anticipates modernist trends in 20th century poetry.<\/p>\n

She attended Amherst Academy and a year at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary.<\/p>\n

While at the seminary, Dickinson famously refused to participate in the show of evangelical conversion sweeping through her community at the time. Much of her poetry, however, meditates on heaven and the inner life, often contrasting the private moment against public religious convention. She was clearly a critic of the common practice of religion, leading many to casually label her as an atheist, yet there is no denying that she experienced a rich inner life that she understood in religious terms. While unconventional by the religious standards of her day, the argument can be made that she was a deep mystic. If one reads her poetry side-by-side with the poet-saints of India, for example, the parallels in metaphoric language and insight become obvious.<\/p>\n

Following her return from Mount Holyoke, Emily Dickinson almost never left Amherst again, rarely even leaving the grounds of her family home. Later in life she took to dressing entirely in white.<\/p>\n

Much is made of Dickinson\u2019s reclusive life, the fact that she never married, and the focus on death in much of her poetry, leading to descriptions of her as a morbid, sexually repressed recluse. One can see her in this way; or, recognizing the depth of her mysticism, we can imagine that she cultivated a self-defined monastic life of contemplation and poetry.<\/p>\n

More poetry by Emily Dickinson<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I taste a liquor never brewed by Emily Dickinson I taste a liquor never brewed \u2014 From Tankards scooped in Pearl \u2014 Not all the Vats upon the Rhine Yield such an Alcohol! Inebriate of Air \u2014 am I \u2014 And Debauchee of Dew \u2014 Reeling \u2014 thro endless summer days \u2014 From inns of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[843,3],"tags":[847,844,196,2514,19,845],"class_list":["post-8223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-celesital_drink","category-poetry","tag-amrita","tag-celestial-drink","tag-emily-dickinson","tag-liquor","tag-sufi-poetry","tag-wine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8223"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8226,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8223\/revisions\/8226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}