In Sara Teasdale’s “The Answer,” the speaker imagines herself after death, her body returned to the earth and its living color gone. If people passing by look down with pity, she insists her dust would answer them: Be still, I am content. Their compassion is not needed. Joy, she says, was not fragile in her—it burned like a steady flame. She compares herself to a slender reed that bends in a storm and even loves the wind that shakes it. The poem ends with a proud challenge: she found more joy in sorrow than others can find in joy itself. The mood is calm but defiant, not sad or self-pitying. It turns the grave into a place of strength, as if the speaker carries an untouchable inner fire beyond death.
The Answer — Summary
When I go back to earth And all my joyous body Puts off the red and white That once had been so proud, If men should pass above With false and feeble pity, My dust will find a voice To answer them aloud: "Be still, I am content, Take back your poor compassion, Joy was a flame in me Too steady to destroy; Lithe as a bending reed Loving the storm that sways her-- I found more joy in sorrow Than you could find in joy."