What is the tone in the poem "Barter"?
There are two different tones in this great poem by Sara Teasdale—one occupies the first two stanzas, and the other the third.
The first two stanzas have a tone of wonderment, happiness, and joy. The poet occupies these stanzas talking about the simple things in life that can bring one joy. She makes reference to a variety of such things, from hugs and music to sights of natural beauty. The list of things that Teasdale refers to encompasses both mind and soul, from sights and smells that will provide happiness to spiritual elements that will provide deep inner joy.
The third stanza turns to an advisory tone, in which the poet urges the reader to focus on the pursuit of the things mentioned in the first two stanzas.
In the poem, "Barter ," Sara Teasdale makes a list of some of the "beautiful and splendid things" that life...
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offers "to sell" to us. These include:
*"Blue waves whitened on a cliff"
*"children's faces looking up / Holding wonder like a cup"
*"Scent of pine trees in the rain"
*"Eyes that love you, arms that hold"
To "buy" these things, however, one must "pay" a steep price: "many a year of strife"--struggle and pain--must be paid in order to purchase "one white singing hour of peace." Life is tough, but it is worthwhile to endure the troubles in order to catch an occasional "breath of ecstasy."
The tone of the poem's first two poems is ecstatic. Only in the third stanza does the poet begin to discuss the difficulties of life. Even this stanza, however, is optimistic, because it promises that although the price is high, "loveliness" is available in this world.
What is your interpretation of the poem "Barter"?
Teasdale’s poems are noted for their classic forms, evocative imagery, and traditional subjects and themes. She is often described as staying within the mainstream of conventional lyric poetry and avoiding the experimental, revolutionary poetic structures and subject matter that characterize the work of many poets of her time. “Barter,” one of her best known poems, seems to support the literary criticism. The poem is traditional in form; it is lyrical, rich in sensory language and vivid imagery, and seems to romanticize beauty and the “loveliness” found in life.
A closer examination of “Barter,” however—and even the title itself—reveals a thematic undertone that belies a conventionally romantic view. Life is indeed filled with “loveliness,” but it isn’t a gift to those who would possess it; it must be purchased, and the price is high. Teasdale doesn’t detail the price to be paid in exchange for beauty, love, or spiritual fulfillment, but an “hour of peace” may cost “many a year of strife.” To experience even “a breath of ecstasy,” one must sacrifice “all you have been or could be.” Since the nineteenth-century development of Romanticism as a literary genre, beauty as an ideal and the beauty one can experience in life have been celebrated in joyous or reverent tones by the Romantic poets. Teasdale acknowledges that life is filled with “beautiful and splendid things,” but she does not take a conventionally romantic view of them. In “Barter,” there are strings attached to all that is lovely in life.