{
 "id": "ambrose-bierce/the-death-of-grant",
 "title": "The Death of Grant",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Ambrose Bierce",
 "poet_slug": "ambrose-bierce",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Shapes of Clay",
 "book_slug": "shapes-of-clay",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 43,
 "container": "Shapes of Clay",
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1903,
  "venue": "Shapes of Clay (1903)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/shapesofclay00bier"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/ambrose-bierce_poetry",
  "file": "shapes-of-clay.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4793",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12658",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12977",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15599",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof04bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof05bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof08bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/shapesofclay00bier",
   "https://archive.org/details/blackbeetlesinam00bier",
   "https://archive.org/details/literarycalifor05mighgoog",
   "https://archive.org/details/cali07webb"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 36,
  "n_stanzas": 9,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 36,
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 "site_ready": true,
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Father! whose hard and cruel law",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is part of thy compassion’s plan,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Thy works presumptuously we scan",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For what the prophets say they saw.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Unbidden still the awful slope",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Walling us in we climb to gain",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Assurance of the shining plain",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "That faith has certified to hope.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "In vain!⁠—beyond the circling hill",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The shadow and the cloud abide.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Subdue the doubt, our spirits guide",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To trust the record and be still.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "To trust it loyally as he",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who, heedful of his high design,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Ne’er raised a seeking eye to thine,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But wrought thy will unconsciously,",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Disputing not of chance or fate,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor questioning of cause or creed;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For anything but duty’s deed",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Too simply wise, too humbly great.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The cannon syllabled his name;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His shadow shifted o’er the land,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Portentous, as at his demand",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Successive bastions sprang to flame!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He flared the continent with fire,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The rivers ran in lines of light!",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Thy will be done on earth⁠—if right",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Or wrong he cared not to inquire.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "His was the heavy hand, and his",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The service of the despot blade;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "His the soft answer that allayed",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "War’s giant animosities.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Let us have peace: our clouded eyes,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Fill, Father, with another light,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "That we may see with clearer sight",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Thy servant’s soul in Paradise.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}