Question

What is the irony in the last stanza of the poem "Success is counted sweetest"?

Answer 1

It describes the strange fact that you have to be denied something before you can truly appreciate it. To put it in another cheesy pop band way, "You don't know what you got till it's gone

Answer 2

The Irony in the last stanza is almost like possessing "Adam's Apple"- meaning- Human beings desire things that they do not possess or they do not have. This is the contrast presented by the author when she describes 'the nectar'- A connotation for both success and abundance. The need is doubled and becomes a greed when we do not have something. Just as we can comprehend by saying that, the meaning of life is understood by a person who has struggled his way through death. So it is symbolical and also ironical, that we are faced by such juxtapositions in life all the time.