Similarly Heinrich Heine in Longfellow's translation of "The Sea hath its Pearls" says:
And fairer than pearls and stars
Flashes and beams my love.
Probably in no poem is the pearl referred to so frequently or with so wide significance as in Whittier's "The Vaudois Teacher." The missionary in his guise of peddler having obtained an audience with the fair chatelaine, while extolling his wares, says:
And my pearls are pure as thy own fair neck, with whose
radiant light they vie.
Naturally, this wisdom of the serpent with which his innocence was garnished brought favorable response:
And the lady smiled on the worn old man through the
dark and clustering curls,