Meter in Barter

In this line, Teasdale uses strong alliteration. Three syllables begin with s, and all of them land on stresses. This technique of stringing together alliteration on three of the four stressed syllables of the line is typical of Anglo-Saxon verse. Teasdale uses beautiful sounds to more deeply convey the beauty of the image.

The poem is set in iambic tetrameter, or four-beat lines with alternating stressed and unstressed syllables. Tetrameter lines tend to give a poem a song-like quality. They are shorter than standard pentameter lines, creating a quickened pace and excited tone.