Hi Everyone!! This article will share Barter Questions & Answers.
This poem is written by Sara Teasdale. In my previous posts, I have shared the questions and answers of Project Tiger, The Pickwick Club and Thelma Rae so, you can check these posts as well.
Barter Questions & Answers
Question 1: The first two stanzas have images that are associated with the senses. Can you find them?
Answer: Sight – sways and sings, eyes that love you, star the night.
Hearing – soaring fire
Smell – scent of pine trees
Touch – holding wonder, arms that hold
Question 2: Look at the line 10. “Eyes that love you, arms that hold.” Who do eyes and arm refer to?
Answer: The eyes and arms are of the people who are in love with the readers of the poem.
Question 3: Look at the lines 11 and 12. What gives your mind and feelings ‘still delight’? Why are ‘thoughts’ described as ‘holy’?
Answer: Love, hope, happy thoughts and other positive feelings offer still delight. The thoughts are described as holy because they are pure thoughts, untainted by any negativities.
Question 4: …..star the night. (line12) The word ‘star’ is usually used as a noun. How is it used here?
Answer: Here the word ‘star’ has been used as a verb.
Question 5: Line 15 and 16 refer to two ideas that are opposite in meaning. What are they?
“For one white singing hour of peace
Count many a years of strife well lost.
Answer: The two ideas opposite in meaning are ‘an hour of peace’ and ‘a year of strife’. The peace contrasts against the strife and unrest. In fact, peace is so powerful that an hour of it is compared to a year of strife.
Question 6: Did you notice that in the third stanza the poet directly advises us to give all that we have in exchange for loveliness? She does this by using four verbs. Which one are they?
Answer: The four verbs are ‘spend’, ‘buy’, ‘never count’ and ‘give’.
Question 7: What do you think is the theme of the poem? Which line expresses the theme? Is this line repeated? If yes, why?
Answer: The theme of the poem is the notion of barter. The poet wants us to buy all the loveliness we can so that we can enjoy life all the better for it.
The line ‘Life has loveliness to sell’ makes the theme quite clear. Yes, this line is repeated. This is done to reinforce the message that the poet wants to send out.
Question 8: Did you notice the simile in lines 5 and 6? What does the word ‘cup’ suggest? In what way is a cup similar to a child’s face?
Answer: Here, cup is used to describe a container that holds something. Children’s faces are like cups because just as a cup can hold a liquid inside it, children’s faces hold the wonder that they experience.
So, these were Barter Questions & Answers.