Lyric Poem · Life

Barter

by Sara Teasdale · 1917

Reading room

1Life has loveliness to sell,

2All beautiful and splendid things,

3Blue waves whitened on a cliff,

4Soaring fire that sways and sings,

5And children's faces looking up

6Holding wonder like a cup.

7Life has loveliness to sell,

8Music like a curve of gold,

9Scent of pine trees in the rain,

10Eyes that love you, arms that hold,

11And for your spirit's still delight,

12Holy thoughts that star the night.

13Spend all you have for loveliness,

14Buy it and never count the cost;

15For one white singing hour of peace

16Count many a year of strife well lost,

17And for a breath of ecstasy

18Give all you have been, or could be.

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“Barter” by Sara Teasdale — quilloak.com/poems/barter

Quick facts

Poem: Barter
Poet: Sara Teasdale
Published: 1917
Length: 18 lines
Form: Lyric Poem, Rhyming Poems
Themes: Life, Happiness, Inspirational

Craft notes

How this poem works

Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape: 18 lines · 3 sestets
End rhyme: ABCBDD in 67% of the stanzas. The remaining stanzas vary, often through slant rhyme.
Line length: Lines run 7-9 syllables (median 8), consistent with tetrameter. No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
Refrain: “Life has loveliness to sell,”Repeated lines act as the poem's hinge or drumbeat.

The poem’s silhouette — approximate syllables per line, measured from the text above. Even bars mean a measured line; ragged bars mean the poem sets its own widths.

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Text, source & rights

A traceable edition

Full-text display is based on the cited edition and a United States term-expiry review.

Author record: Sara Teasdale1884–1933
Source record: WikisourceBarter by sara-teasdale, Wikisource transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: 1917
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 4e8bb53bf244421d…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.