{
 "id": "frances-ellen-watkins-harper/the-fatal-pledge",
 "title": "The Fatal Pledge",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Frances Ellen Watkins Harper",
 "poet_slug": "frances-ellen-watkins-harper",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Poetry",
 "book_slug": null,
 "book_kind": "compilation",
 "sequence": null,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1901,
  "venue": "Idylls of the Bible (1901), page 51",
  "note": "Located in the scan on disk under the heading THE FATAL PLEDGE. First located printing. Idylls of the Bible (Philadelphia: 1006 Bainbridge Street, 1901) is a late gathering of work written over decades, so an earlier printing is likely and has not been located here; the poem is not in the 1857, 1871, 1872/1891, 1895, 1896, 1898 or 1900 volumes on disk.",
  "uncertain": true,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/idyllsofbible00harp"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/frances-ellen-watkins-harper_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://scalar.lehigh.edu/african-american-poetry-a-digital-anthology/frances-ew-harper-poems-on-miscellaneous-subjects-1857",
   "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",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007491600",
   "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",
   "https://archive.org/details/sim_liberator_1858-05-14_28_20",
   "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": 41,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "“Pledge me with wine,” the maiden cried,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Her tones were gay and light;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“From others you have turned aside,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I claim your pledge to-night.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The blood rushed to the young man’s cheek",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Then left it deadly pale;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Beneath the witchery of her smile",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He felt his courage fail.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "For many years he’d been a slave",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To the enchanting bowl,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Until he grasped with eager hands",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The reins of self-control;",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And struggled with his hated thrall,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Until he rent his chain,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And strove to stand erect and free,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And be a man again.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "When others came with tempting words",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He coldly turned aside.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But she who held the sparkling cup",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Was his affianced bride;",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And like a vision of delight.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Bright, beautiful and fair,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "With thoughtless words she wove for him",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The meshes of despair.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "From jeweled hands he took the cup,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor heard the serpent’s hiss;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor saw beneath its ruby glow",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The deadly adder’s hiss.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Like waves that madly, wildly dash,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When dykes are overthrown.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The barriers of his soul gave way,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Each life with wrecks was strewn.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And she who might have reached her hand",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To succor and to save,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Soon wept in hopeless agony",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Above a drunkard’s grave.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And bore through life with bleeding heart",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Remembrance of that night,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "When she had urged the tempted man",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With wine to make his plight.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}