The Bargain
What shall I give for thee,Thou Pearl of greatest price?For all the treasures I possessWould not suffice.
I give my store of gold;It is but earthly dross:But thou wilt make me rich, beyondAll fear of loss.
Mine honours I resign;They are but small at best:Thou like a royal star wilt shineUpon my breast.
My worldly joys I give,The flowers with which I played;Thy beauty, far more heavenly fair,Shall never fade.
Dear Lord, is that enough?Nay, not a thousandth part.Well, then, I have but one thing more:Take Thou my heart.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- suffice v. i.
- To be enough, or sufficient; to meet the need (of anything); to be equal to the end proposed; to be adequate. [OE. suffisen, OF. soufire, F. suffire (cf. suffisant, p.pr.), L. sufficere to put under, to substitute, to avail for, to suffice; sub under + facere to make. Se]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Bargain is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Henry Van Dyke, Project Gutenberg ebook #16229; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Van Dyke, The Bargain, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/the-bargain.html, id L22844.
Form and metre
The Bargain is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -A-A thee · priceA · possess · sufficeA
- 2 -A-A gold · drossA · beyond · lossA
- 3 ABAB resignA · bestB · shineA · breastB
- 4 -A-A give · playedA · fair · fadeA
- 5 -A-A enough · partA · more · heartA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| What shall I give for thee, | 6 | ······ |
| Thou Pearl of greatest price? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| For all the treasures I possess | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Would not suffice. | 4 | ··˘/ |
| I give my store of gold; | 6 | ······ |
| It is but earthly dross: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But thou wilt make me rich, beyond | 8 | ········ |
| All fear of loss. | 4 | ···· |
| Mine honours I resign; | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| They are but small at best: | 6 | ······ |
| Thou like a royal star wilt shine | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Upon my breast. | 4 | ···· |
| My worldly joys I give, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The flowers with which I played; | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Thy beauty, far more heavenly fair, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘˘· |
| Shall never fade. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Dear Lord, is that enough? | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Nay, not a thousandth part. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Well, then, I have but one thing more: | 8 | ········ |
| Take Thou my heart. | 4 | ···· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.