The word barter means exchange by trade without money, In the poem Barter by Sara Teasdale, Whats the exchange

Question

Life has loveliness to sell,

All beautiful and splendid things,

Blue waves whitened on a cliff,

Soaring fire that sways and sings,

And childrens's faces looking up

Holding wonder in a cup.

Life has loveliness to sell,

Music like a curve of gold,

Scent of pine trees in the rain,

Eyes that love you, arms that hold,

And for your spirit's still delight,

Holy thoughts that star the night.

Spend all you have for loveliness,

Buy it and never count the cost;

For one white singing hour of peace

Count many a year of strife well lost,

And for a breath of ecstacy

Give all you have been, or could be.

Is it:

A year of strife for ecstacy

Childen's faces for wonder

Music for a curve of gold

Personal commitment for life's beauty

Spirit's delight for peace???????????

Answer 1

The first two stanzas list some of the many wonders life has to offer.  The third stanza urges us to give our whole selves for those wonders, to respond to them fully with open hearts, to live as if the whole purpose of life were to experience such delights.  Despite the word "sell" in the opening lines of stanzas 1 and 2, and despite the word "Spend" in the opening line of stanza 3, there is no literal exchange of money in the poem.  The metaphoric "Barter" here is between life's spiritual and aesthetic riches and our individual willingness to respond appreciatively.

No, the answer is not spirit's delight for peace.  (The poem says that many years of strife are not too much to pay or trade for one hour of peace.  But "one white singing hour of peace" is just one of life's many beauties.)  Read my original answer again.  Then re-read the poem, slowly and attentively.  Of ecstasy, wonder, gold, life's beauty, and peace, which are just individual examples of things for which we should be willing to spend all we have, and which one is a larger description of all the things worth living for?

Answer 2

The exchange is... a waste of 2 minutes of my life for reading this poem.  :)