This is a power point that uses the poem "Barter" to illustrate how to connect meaning to method in literary analysis

1. INTERPRETING POETRY
METHOD
TO
MEANING

2. Barter
by
Sara Teasdale
Go to this url to see a presentation of the images of
the poem set to music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMyjgcykpxQ
Go to this url to see information on what the words
may imply for meaning:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2VwzlwalPY

3. Barter
Life has loveliness to sell,
All beautiful and splendid things,
Blue waves whitened on a cliff,
Soaring fire that sways and sings,
And children's faces looking up,
Holding wonder like a cup.
Life has loveliness to sell,
Music like the 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 ecstasy
Give all you have been, or could be.
Sara Teasdale

4. Theme
Clearly the speaker is talking about the beauty to be
found in living. There is more to it so let’s examine
some of the parts of the poem.
The title: Barter. If you look this word up, you will find
that it means:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/barter
So the idea of trading one thing for another,
sometimes it is money for goods.
How does this title help us to see her point?
What are we trading in the poem?

5. Theme
Clearly the theme has something to do with trading one
thing for another. A clue is in the line: loveliness to sell.
Then the line at the end clues us to her message:
And for a breath of ecstasy
Give all you have been, or could be.
Don’t sell out the beauty around you for meaningless
things; instead give all for what is truly meaningful: beauty.
We could begin forming a theme statement here.
Sara Teasdale, in her poem “Barter,” provides the message
that the only true value in life is in beauty and people
should not trade that for meaningless things.

6. Method
Now that we have a theme idea, let’s look at the methods
the poet uses to help us see the theme.
First, we see personification in the use of “life.”
Life does not sell anything, but for her purposes, she
shows us that life has beauty and worth for us.
Then she uses imagery to show us what beauty is:
Blue waves whitened on a cliff,
Soaring fire that sways and sings,
And children's faces looking up,
These are visual images that can help us see what she
means by beauty.
Note that there is also personification here as the fire
sways and sings. Beauty comes to life as we experience it.

7. Method
We could also see symbol in the use of children:
And children's faces looking up,
Holding wonder like a cup.
This makes us aware that we need the innocence of
children and that kind of wonder to appreciate
beauty.
There is also repetition of the loveliness line to
reinforce this idea. And the second stanza contains
more imagery to show what the loveliness is.

8. Method
In the last stanza, she is talking directly to us, urging us to
buy loveliness. Again, this is not possible in a literal way,
but we can put our efforts into getting or appreciating
those things that are lovely. The last stanza moves from
imagery of sensory details to abstract concepts such as
peace, strife, and ecstacy.
This move in the poem shows us that it is a spiritual
struggle, not one with material things. Her word, “Holy” in
the previous stanza gets us ready for this change.
The word “all” is important as it means that there are no
exceptions to our quest for beauty and meaning. If we
want to have it, we have to spend all our life which is
signified in the reference to “Give all you have been, or
could be.” This includes past and future.

9. Thesis
Now let’s go back to our theme idea:
As we examined the poem, we noted some of the
poetic methods used. (It is not necessary to examine
all of them, just ones that seem to show the meaning
to you).
So let’s put this together with our theme statement:
Sara Teasdale, in her poem “Barter,” uses
personification, imagery, symbol and repetition to
provide the message that the only true value in life is
in beauty and people should not trade that for
meaningless things.

10. Writing the essay
Now that we have examined the poem and pointed
out the meaning and provided links to the method,
we can take the poem and write this all out:
Introduction:
Provide the thesis and some introductory remarks.
Perhaps here you could note the meaning of the title in
connection to the meaning for the poem.

11. Writing the body of the essay
Examine the poem one stanza or section at a time.
Explain the connections to the meaning and method
that are in the words of the poem.
Provide some of these words as you discuss the
meaning of the poem
Be sure to reinforce how the author is developing her
point with each stanza
Write a transition sentence to connect paragraphs
about the stanzas to show the flow of the whole
poem as it relates to meaning.

12. Conclusion
Provide a summary of your main points and any other
thoughts that would wrap up the discussion or
reinforce your main ideas.
Provide a citation for your paper.
Be sure to use a correct application of an approved
format for the set up of the paper and the citation of
the poem and anything else you used to help you
analyze it .