{
 "id": "frances-ellen-watkins-harper/the-resurrection-of-jesus",
 "title": "The Resurrection of Jesus",
 "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 54",
  "note": "Located in the scan on disk under the heading THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS. 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": 76,
  "n_stanzas": 19,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 38,
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "It was done, the deed of horror;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Christ had died upon the cross,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And within an upper chamber",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The disciples mourned their loss.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Peter’s eyes were full of anguish,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thinking sadly of the trial",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "When his boasted self-reliance",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ended in his Lord’s denial.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Disappointment, deep and heavy,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Shrouded every heart with gloom,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "As the hopes so fondly cherished",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Died around the garden tomb.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And they thought with shame and sorrow",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "How they fled in that dark hour,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "When they saw their Lord and Master",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the clutch of Roman power.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "We had hoped, they sadly uttered,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He would over Israel reign,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But to-day he lies sepulchred.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And our cherished hopes are vain.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "In the humble home of Mary",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Slowly waned the hours away,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Till she rose to seek the garden",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the place where Jesus lay.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Not the cross with all its anguish",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Could her loving heart restrain,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But the tomb she sought was empty,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And her heart o’erflowed with pain.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "To embalm my Lord and Master",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To this garden I have strayed.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But, behold, I miss his body.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And I know not where he’s laid.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Then a wave of strange emotion",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Swept her soul, as angels said,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“Wherefore do ye seek the living",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Mid the chambers of the dead?”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Unperceived, her Lord stood by her,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Silent witness of her grief,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Bearing on his lips the tidings",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sure to bring a glad relief.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But her tear-dimmed eyes were holden",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When she heard the Master speak;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Thought she, only ’tis the gardener",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Asking whom her soul did seek.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Then a sudden flush of gladness",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "O’er her grief-worn features spread;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "When she knew the voice of Jesus",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All her bitter anguish fled.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Forth she reached hands in rapture.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Touch me not, the Saviour said;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Take the message to my brethren,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I have risen from the dead.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Take them words of joy and comfort,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which will all their mourning end;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To their Father and my Father,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Tell them that I will ascend.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Brethren, I have seen the Master:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He is risen from the dead.”",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But like words of idle meaning",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Seemed the glorious words she said.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Soon they saw the revelation",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which would bid their mourning cease;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Christ, the risen, stood before them",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Breathing words of love and peace.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Timid men were changed to heroes,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Weakness turned to wondrous might.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And the cross became their standard,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Luminous with love and light.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "From that lonely upper chamber,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Holding up the rugged cross,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "With a glad and bold surrender",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They encountered shame and loss.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "In these days of doubt and error,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the conflict for the right,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "May our hearts be ever strengthened",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By the resurrection’s might.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}