Pearl Summary

Pearl is a poem that concerns the death of an infant, Pearl, and her father's struggle to see whether she will enter heaven. The poem opens with a description of Pearl as a beautiful, radiant infant. Pearl's father is full of torment because she has recently died. Pearl was a seed that never had a chance to blossom. But she died 'without a spot'. After Pearl's death, her father begins to debate her eternal fate.

Next Pearl's father has a vision, where he is taken away to another world. Pearl's father describes the landscape as imbued with a heavenly beauty. At the sight of this world, Pearl's father's grief evaporates. He finds that as he follows the waters in this land that his heart receives increasing degrees of joy. Eventually, he sees a city with great walls far away, in an even lovelier...