{
 "id": "frances-ellen-watkins-harper/vashti",
 "title": "Vashti",
 "poet": "Frances Ellen Watkins Harper",
 "poet_slug": "frances-ellen-watkins-harper",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Poems",
 "book_slug": "poems",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 11,
 "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": {
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  "repo": "standardebooks/frances-ellen-watkins-harper_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
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   "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://scalar.lehigh.edu/african-american-poetry-a-digital-anthology/frances-ew-harper-poems-full-text-1895",
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   "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",
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   "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": 68,
  "n_stanzas": 17,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 42,
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "She leaned her head upon her hand",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And heard the king’s decree⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“My lords are feasting in my halls,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Bid Vashti come to me.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“I’ve shown the treasures of my house,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My costly jewels rare,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But with the glory of her eyes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No rubies can compare.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Adorn’d and crown’d I’d have her come,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With all her queenly grace,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And, ’mid my lords and mighty men,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Unveil her lovely face.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Each gem that sparkles in my crown,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or glitters on my throne,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Grows poor and pale when she appears,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My beautiful, my own!”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "All waiting stood the chamberlains",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To hear the Queen’s reply,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "They saw her cheek grow deathly pale,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But light flash’d to her eye:",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Go, tell the King,” she proudly said,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“That I am Persia’s Queen,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And by his crowds of merry men",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I never will be seen.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“I’ll take the crown from off my head",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And tread it ’neath my feet",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Before their rude and careless gaze",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My shrinking eyes shall meet.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“A queen unveil’d before the crowd!⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Upon each lip my name!⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Why, Persia’s women all would blush",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And weep for Vashti’s shame!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Go back!” she cried, and waived her hand,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And grief was in her eye:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“Go, tell the King,” she sadly said,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“That I would rather die.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "They brought her message to the King,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Dark flash’d his angry eye;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "’Twas as the lightning ere the storm",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hath swept in fury by.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Then bitterly outspoke the King,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Through purple lips of wrath⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“What shall be done to her who dares",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To cross your monarch’s path?”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Then spake his wily counsellors⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“O King of this fair land!",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "From distant Ind to Ethiop,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All bow to thy command.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“But if, before thy servants’ eyes,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "This thing they plainly see,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "That Vashti doth not heed thy will",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor yield herself to thee,",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“The women, restive ’neath our rule,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Would learn to scorn our name,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And from her deed to us would come",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Reproach and burning shame.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Then, gracious King, sign with thy hand",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "This stern but just decree,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "That Vashti lay aside her crown,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thy Queen no more to be.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "She heard again the King’s command,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And left her high estate,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Strong in her earnest womanhood,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She calmly met her fate,",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And left the palace of the King,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Proud of her spotless name⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "A woman who could bend to grief,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But would not bow to shame.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}