{
 "id": "frances-ellen-watkins-harper/death-of-the-old-sea-king",
 "title": "Death of the Old Sea King",
 "poet": "Frances Ellen Watkins Harper",
 "poet_slug": "frances-ellen-watkins-harper",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Poems",
 "book_slug": "poems",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": null,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1871,
  "venue": "Poems (1871)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/poems01harp"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/frances-ellen-watkins-harper_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
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   "https://archive.org/details/poemsonmiscellan00harp",
   "https://scalar.lehigh.edu/african-american-poetry-a-digital-anthology/frances-ew-harper-poems-1871",
   "https://archive.org/details/poems01harp",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69249",
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   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69248",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100774124",
   "https://scalar.lehigh.edu/african-american-poetry-a-digital-anthology/frances-ew-harper-poems-full-text-1895",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100488369",
   "https://scalar.lehigh.edu/african-american-poetry-a-digital-anthology/frances-ew-harper-idylls-of-the-bible-1901",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100319488",
   "https://archive.org/details/historyofafrican00payn",
   "https://archive.org/details/WeeklyAngloAfricanI",
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   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000500702",
   "https://archive.org/details/undergroundrailr00stil",
   "https://archive.org/details/frances-ellen-watkins-harper_sketches-of-southern-life-1872",
   "https://archive.org/details/25th-annual-report-of-the-board-of-managers-of-the-home-etc",
   "https://archive.org/details/frances-ellen-watkins-harper_light-beyond-the-darkness",
   "https://archive.org/details/ame-church-review-1900-04"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-12"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 40,
  "n_stanzas": 10,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 46,
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 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "’Twas a fearful night⁠—the tempest raved",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With loud and wrathful pride,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The storm-king harnessed his lightning steeds,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And rode on the raging tide.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The sea-king lay on his bed of death.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Pale mourners around him bent,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "They knew the wild and fitful life",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of their chief was almost spent.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "His ear was growing dull in death",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When the angry storm he heard,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The sluggish blood in the old man’s veins",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With sudden vigor stirred.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“I hear them call,” cried the dying man,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His eyes grew full of light,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“Now bring me here my warrior robes,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My sword and armor bright.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“In the tempest’s lull I heard a voice,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I knew ’twas Odin’s call.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The Valkyrs are gathering round my bed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To lead me unto his hall.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Bear me unto my noblest ship,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Light up a funeral pyre;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I’ll walk to the palace of the braves",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Through a path of flame and fire.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "O! wild and bright was the stormy light",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That flashed from the old man’s eye,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "As they bore him from the couch of death",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To his battle-ship to die.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And lit with many a mournful torch",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The sea-king’s dying bed,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And like a banner fair and bright",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The flames around him spread.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But they heard no cry of anguish",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Break through that fiery wall,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "With rigid brow and silent lips",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He was seeking Odin’s hall.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Through a path of fearful splendor,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "While strong men held their breath,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The brave old man went boldly forth",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And calmly talked with death.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}