Sara Teasdale’s speaker takes stock of what keeps her alive from within: gladness at breathing, pride that refuses to shrink before death, curiosity about love and fame, and a heart too high to be tamed by age. The opening “So long as” makes the poem feel conditional, even precarious—she is not boasting, but recognizing these gifts as the basis of her endurance. Because she has all of this, she decides she has no right to resent fate. Her final question is not really uncertain; it is a calm, almost defiant statement of gratitude. Life owes her nothing. She owes life for the intensity of being alive. The mood is proud but not arrogant, stern yet tender, and slightly shadowed by the fact that death is always in view.
Debtor — Summary
So long as my spirit still Is glad of breath And lifts its plumes of pride In the dark face of death; While I am curious still Of love and fame, Keeping my heart too high For the years to tame, How can I quarrel with fate Since I can see I am a debtor to life, Not life to me?