{
 "id": "frances-ellen-watkins-harper/died-of-starvation",
 "title": "Died of Starvation",
 "poet": "Frances Ellen Watkins Harper",
 "poet_slug": "frances-ellen-watkins-harper",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects",
 "book_slug": "poems-on-miscellaneous-subjects",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": null,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1854,
  "venue": "Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects (1854)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsonmiscellan00harp",
   "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q42194389"
  ]
 },
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  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
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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",
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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",
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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": {
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  "last_checked": "2026-08-12",
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   {
    "line": 4,
    "was": "In vain the poor man plead.1",
    "now": "In vain the poor man plead.",
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    "checked_against": "https://archive.org/details/poemsonmiscellan00harp",
    "date": "2026-08-12"
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  [
   {
    "text": "They forced him into prison,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Because he begged for bread;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“My wife is starving⁠—dying!”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In vain the poor man plead.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "They forced him into prison,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Strong bars enclosed the walls,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "While the rich and proud were feasting",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Within their sumptuous halls.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He’d striven long with anguish.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Had wrestled with despair;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But his weary heart was breaking",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Neath its crushing load of care.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And he prayed them in that prison,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Oh, let me seek my wife!”",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For he knew that want was feeding",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On the remnant of her life.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "That night his wife lay moaning",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Upon her bed in pain;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Hunger gnawing at her vitals,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Fever scorching through her brain.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "She wondered at his tarrying,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He was not wont to stay;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "’Mid hunger, pain and watching,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The moments waned away.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Sadly crouching by the embers,",
    "indent": 0
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   {
    "text": "Her famished children lay;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And she longed to gaze upon them,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As her spirit passed away.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But the embers were too feeble.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She could not see each face,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "So she clasped her arms around them⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Twas their mother’s last embrace.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
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    "text": "They loosed him from his prison,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As a felon from his chain;",
    "indent": 1
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   {
    "text": "Though his strength was hunger bitten,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He sought his home again.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Just as her spirit linger’d",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On Time’s receding shore,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "She heard his welcome footstep",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On the threshold of the door.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He was faint and spirit-broken,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But, rousing from despair,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He clasped her icy fingers,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As she breathed her dying prayer.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "With a gentle smile and blessing,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Her spirit winged its flight,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "As the morn, in all its glory.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Bathed the world in dazzling light.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "There was weeping, bitter weeping,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the chamber of the dead.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For well the stricken husband knew",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She had died for want of bread.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}