"I taste a liquor never brewed"- metaphor

"I taste a liquor never brewed"
by Emily Dickinson

When I first read this poem, it reminded me of a line from a country song by Luke Bryan.  The lyrics say, "I'm a little drunk on you, and high on summertime."  Just like in the song, drunkenness is not being taken literally in this poem.  The poem is an extended metaphor.  Being drunk on liquor symbolizes the pure joy the speaker receives from nature.  The title, which is also the first line of the poem, specifically tells the reader that the speaker is note actually drunk on real liquor.  The liquor is "never brewed, " "Not all the Vats upon the Rhine yield such an Alcohol" (Dickinson, 797).  The liquor has never been made the way all liquors have, the alcohol has never been produced from a vat.  This clarifies that the liquor is not actually an intoxicating liquid.  The metaphor is continued when the speaker says she is "Inebriate of Air" (Dickinson, 797).

With this extended metaphor, the author vividly displays the pure and vast joy the speaker receives from nature.  Nature makes the speaker feel light and elated, like being tipsy or drunk from alcohol.