{
 "id": "henry-van-dyke-jr/the-proud-lady",
 "title": "The Proud Lady",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Henry van Dyke Jr.",
 "poet_slug": "henry-van-dyke-jr",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "The Poems of Henry Van Dyke",
 "book_slug": "poems",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 37,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1920,
  "venue": "The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1920)",
  "note": "Taken from the 1920 collected edition. That is the printing this text comes from, not the poem's first appearance: the volume gathers work published from 1897 onward, and which earlier book or magazine printed this poem first has not been established here.",
  "uncertain": true,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsofhenryvand00vandrich"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/henry-van-dyke-jr_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16229",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16134",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10679",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3525",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9372",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29314",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43094",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsofhenryvand00vandrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/buildersotherpoe00vandrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/toilingoffelixan00vandiala",
   "https://archive.org/details/musicotherpoems0000henr_c7v6",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsnowfirstcol00vanduoft",
   "https://archive.org/details/songsoutofdoors0000vand",
   "https://archive.org/details/thyseaisgreatour00vandiala",
   "https://archive.org/details/chosenpoems0000vand"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 80,
  "n_stanzas": 20,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 46,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "When Stävoren town was in its prime",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And queened the Zuyder Zee,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Her ships went out to every clime",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With costly merchantry.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "A lady dwelt in that rich town,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The fairest in all the land;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "She walked abroad in a velvet gown,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With many rings on her hand.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Her hair was bright as the beaten gold,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Her lips as coral red,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Her roving eyes were blue and bold,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And her heart with pride was fed.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "For she was proud of her father’s ships,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As she watched them gaily pass;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And pride looked out of her eyes and lips",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When she saw herself in the glass.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Now come,” she said to the captains ten,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who were ready to put to sea,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“Ye are all my men and my father’s men,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And what will ye do for me?”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Go north and south, go east and west,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And get me gifts,” she said.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“And he who bringeth me home the best,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With that man will I wed.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "So they all fared forth, and sought with care",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In many a famous mart,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For satins and silks and jewels rare,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To win that lady’s heart.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "She looked at them all with never a thought,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And careless put them by;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“I am not fain of the things ye brought,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Enough of these have I.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The last that came was the head of the fleet,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His name was Jan Borel;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He bent his knee at the lady’s feet⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In truth he loved her well.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“I’ve brought thee home the best i’ the world,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A shipful of Danzig corn!”",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "She stared at him long; her red lips curled,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Her blue eyes filled with scorn.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Now out on thee, thou feckless kerl,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A loon thou art,” she said.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“Am I a starving beggar girl?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Shall I ever lack for bread?”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Go empty all thy sacks of grain",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Into the nearest sea,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And never show thy face again",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To make a mock of me.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Young Jan Borel, he answered naught,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But in the harbour cast",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The sacks of golden corn he brought,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And groaned when fell the last.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Then Jan Borel, he hoisted sail,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And out to sea he bore;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He passed the Helder in a gale",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And came again no more.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But the grains of corn went drifting down",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like devil-scattered seed,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To sow the harbour of the town",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With a wicked growth of weed.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The roots were thick and the silt and sand",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Were gathered day by day,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Till not a furlong out from land",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A shoal had barred the way.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Then Stävoren town saw evil years,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No ships could out or in,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The boats lay rotting at the piers,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the mouldy grain in the bin.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The grass-grown streets were all forlorn,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The town in ruin stood,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The lady’s velvet gown was torn,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Her rings were sold for food.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Her father had perished long ago,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But the lady held her pride,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "She walked with a scornful step and slow,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Till at last in her rags she died.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Yet still on the crumbling piers of the town,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When the midnight moon shines free,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "A woman walks in a velvet gown",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And scatters corn in the sea.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}