Barter Themes

When we shop we make choices: brands, styles, price. In "Barter," Teasdale is asking the reader to choose loveliness. She wants us to buy what life is selling. She offers examples of loveliness to...

There is a sense of impermanence in "Barter." Many of the images that Teasdale uses as examples of life's loveliness are fleeting things—here one minute and gone the next. We definitely get the f...

Teasdale doesn't mention happiness directly in "Barter," but we can certainly see it's meant to be a byproduct of the loveliness that she's peddling: Buy some loveliness, and we'll throw in jumbo-s...

In "Barter," Teasdale uses primarily natural images as examples of loveliness. She shows us that loveliness is all around. With all those natural images as examples, we get the sense that living li...