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In “Wild nights – Wild nights!” Emily Dickinson compares passion and liberation with societal restraint, strikingly contrasting tea's controlled rituals in 19th-century America. The poem’s wish for unrestricted connection and freedom—“Wild nights should be / Our luxury!” (lines 3–4)—greatly contrasts carefully orchestrated tea rituals that symbolized societal norms of decency and femininity.  For upper-class women, tea gatherings often became performative acts, tethering them to expectations of propriety and domestic perfection formed by social norms of the 19th century.

Additionally, Dickinson’s rejection of external navigation—“Done with the Compass— / Done with the Chart!” (lines 6–7)—mirrors a desire to cast off societal constraints, much like the restrictive roles women embodied in their carefully curated tea parties. The poet’s imagery of “Rowing in Eden” (line 9) creates a longing for natural, uninhibited experiences, unlike the structured elegance of tea ceremonies. In this sense, tea as a symbol of societal control becomes important in relation to the themes of free expression that Dickinson celebrates in her poetry. The tension between restraint and freedom highlights the duality of tea rituals: comforting yet confining, much like the societal expectations women of this time embodied.

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Emily Dickinson’s poem “Fame is a fickle food” provides a poignant lens through which to explore the symbolic connection between tea and societal expectations in 19th-century America. The poem critiques the fleeting and unreliable nature of fame, comparing it to food that's served “upon a shifting plate” (line 2), unstable and inconsistent. This imagery connects with the cultural ritual of tea, which was often consumed as part of social gatherings designed to reinforce status and refinement. Just as Dickinson portrays fame as an ultimately unsatisfying pursuit, tea parties in the 19th century often served as performative acts, showcasing domestic skills and wealth rather than genuine connection.

Additionally, the poem’s final image of crows rejecting the crumbs of fame, instead flying toward the “Farmer’s Corn” (line 7), highlights the emptiness of such pursuits. Similarly, the elaborate parties and tea rituals held by aristocrating women could be viewed as actions that are dictated by social norms rather than personal preference. Through this parallel, Dickinson’s critique of fame as something “men eat of...and die” (line 8) aligns with the idea that the rigid expectations tied to tea and domesticity could stifle individuality and authenticity. Tea, and fame in this example, become symbols of the tension between appearance and substance, a theme central to Dickinson’s work.

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Tea in 19th Century America was more than just a beverage; it acted as a symbol of cultural and social shift, that is deeply tied to rituals of hospitality and domesticity. Tea played a popular role in the fight for independence against Great Britain in the 18th century, it's popularity endured, and it became a staple in upper-class American households a century later. Americans embraced tea as an integral part of each day, particularly through the ritual of "taking tea," or elaborate tea parties. These gatherings provided women a socially acceptable platform to perform roles of domesticity and refinement. Thus, tea in 19th-century America served as a domestic ritual that reinforced the ideals of femininity and elegance. This cultural backdrop enforces the symbolism of tea in Emily Dickinson’s poetry, where it becomes a lens to explore themes of domestic ritual, solitude, and societal expectation.

Source: https://objectstudies.net/2021/11/23/tea-in-the-19th-century/

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The Poetry Foundation describes Emily Dickinson as "one of America’s greatest and most original poets of all time." She was born in Amherst, Massachusetts on December 10, 1830. Dickinson was not publicly recognized as a poet during her lifetime, she died in 1886 and her work wasn't published until 1890. Her work often challenged the definition of poetry as she often experimented and worked outside of the restraints that traditional poetry had. Her poetry explores themes like solitude, domesticity, and societal expectation, making it particularly resonant with the cultural semiotics of tea in 19th-century America. Dickinson often used imagery tied to the everyday—food, drink, and household rituals—as metaphors to introduce deeper philosophical and emotional questions. Tea, as both a domestic ritual and a social performance, connects to the tensions in Dickinson’s work between societal norms and individual authenticity, with her poems often critiquing these norms. She uses simple symbols to express complex ideas about identity, intimacy, and rebellion. This makes her poetry an ideal lens through which to analyze the symbolic and cultural significance of tea in her time.

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Fame is a fickle food
Upon a shifting plate
Whose table once a
Guest but not
The second time is set.

Whose crumbs the crows inspect
And with ironic caw
Flap past it to the Farmer's Corn –
Men eat of it and die.

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I measure every Grief I meet
With narrow, probing, eyes -
I wonder if It weighs like Mine -
Or has an Easier size.

I wonder if They bore it long -
Or did it just begin -
I could not tell the Date of Mine -
It feels so old a pain -

I wonder if it hurts to live -
And if They have to try -
And whether - could They choose between -
It would not be - to die -

I note that Some - gone patient long -
At length, renew their smile -
An imitation of a Light
That has so little Oil -

I wonder if when Years have piled -
Some Thousands - on the Harm -
That hurt them early - such a lapse
Could give them any Balm -

Or would they go on aching still
Through Centuries of Nerve -
Enlightened to a larger Pain -
In Contrast with the Love -

The Grieved - are many - I am told -
There is the various Cause -
Death - is but one - and comes but once -
And only nails the eyes -

There's Grief of Want - and grief of Cold -
A sort they call "Despair" -
There's Banishment from native Eyes -
In sight of Native Air -

And though I may not guess the kind -
Correctly - yet to me
A piercing Comfort it affords
In passing Calvary -

To note the fashions - of the Cross -
And how they're mostly worn -
Still fascinated to presume
That Some - are like my own -

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I measure every Grief I meet With narrow, probing, eyes - I wonder if It weighs like Mine - Or has an Easier size.

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Wild nights - Wild nights!

Were I with thee

Wild nights should be

Our luxury!

Futile - the winds -

To a Heart in port -

Done with the Compass -

Done with the Chart!

Rowing in Eden -

Ah - the Sea!

Might I but moor - tonight -

In thee!

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Wild nights - Wild nights! (269) by Emily… | Poetry Foundation