{
 "id": "phillis-wheatley/goliath-of-gath",
 "title": "Goliath of Gath",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": "1 Sam., Chap. 17",
 "poet": "Phillis Wheatley",
 "poet_slug": "phillis-wheatley",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral",
 "book_slug": "poems-on-various-subjects-religious-and-moral",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 11,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1773,
  "venue": "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://github.com/standardebooks/phillis-wheatley_poems-on-various-subjects-religious-and-moral"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/phillis-wheatley_poems-on-various-subjects-religious-and-moral",
  "file": "poems-on-various-subjects-religious-and-moral.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/409",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsonvarioussu273whea",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsofphilliswh00whea_1"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-14"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 222,
  "n_stanzas": 18,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 54,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Ye martial pow’rs, and all ye tuneful nine,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Inspire my song, and aid my high design.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The dreadful scenes and toils of war I write,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The ardent warriors, and the fields of fight:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You best remember, and you best can sing",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The acts of heroes to the vocal string:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Resume the lays with which your sacred lyre,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Did then the poet and the sage inspire.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Now front to front the armies were display’d,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Here Israel rang’d, and there the foes array’d;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The hosts on two opposing mountains stood,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thick as the foliage of the waving wood;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Between them an extensive valley lay,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "O’er which the gleaming armour pour’d the day,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When from the camp of the Philistine foes,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Dreadful to view, a mighty warrior rose;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the dire deeds of bleeding battle skill’d,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The monster stalks the terror of the field.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From Gath he sprung, Goliath was his name,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of fierce deportment, and gigantic frame:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A brazen helmet on his head was plac’d,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A coat of mail his form terrific grac’d,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The greaves his legs, the targe his shoulders prest:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Dreadful in arms high-tow’ring o’er the rest",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A spear he proudly wav’d, whose iron head,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Strange to relate, six hundred shekels weigh’d;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He strode along, and shook the ample field,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "While Phoebus blaz’d refulgent on his shield:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Through Jacob’s race a chilling horror ran,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When thus the huge, enormous chief began:",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Say, what the cause that in this proud array",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“You set your battle in the face of day?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“One hero find in all your vaunting train,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Then see who loses, and who wins the plain;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“For he who wins, in triumph may demand",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Perpetual service from the vanquish’d land:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Your armies I defy, your force despise,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“By far inferior in Philistia’s eyes:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Produce a man, and let us try the fight,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Decide the contest, and the victor’s right.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Thus challeng’d he: all Israel stood amaz’d,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And ev’ry chief in consternation gaz’d;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But Jesse’s son in youthful bloom appears,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And warlike courage far beyond his years:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He left the folds, he left the flow’ry meads,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And soft recesses of the sylvan shades.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Now Israel’s monarch, and his troops arise,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With peals of shouts ascending to the skies;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In Elah’s vale the scene of combat lies.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "When the fair morning blush’d with orient red,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "What David’s fire enjoin’d the son obey’d,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And swift of foot towards the trench he came,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where glow’d each bosom with the martial flame.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He leaves his carriage to another’s care,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And runs to greet his brethren of the war.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "While yet they spake the giant-chief arose,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Repeats the challenge, and insults his foes:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Struck with the sound, and trembling at the view,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Affrighted Israel from its post withdrew.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Observe ye this tremendous foe, they cry’d,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Who in proud vaunts our armies hath defy’d:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Whoever lays him prostrate on the plain,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Freedom in Israel for his house shall gain;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“And on him wealth unknown the king will pour,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“And give his royal daughter for his dow’r.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Then Jesse’s youngest hope: “My brethren say,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“What shall be done for him who takes away",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Reproach from Jacob, who destroys the chief,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“And puts a period to his country’s grief.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“He vaunts the honours of his arms abroad,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“And scorns the armies of the living God.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Thus spoke the youth, th’ attentive people ey’d",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The wond’rous hero, and again reply’d:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Such the rewards our monarch will bestow,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“On him who conquers, and destroys his foe.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Eliab heard, and kindled into ire",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To hear his shepherd-brother thus inquire,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And thus begun: “What errand brought thee? say",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Who keeps thy flock? or does it go astray?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“I know the base ambition of thine heart,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“But back in safety from the field depart.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Eliab thus to Jesse’s youngest heir,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Express’d his wrath in accents most severe.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When to his brother mildly he reply’d,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“What have I done? or what the cause to chide?”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The words were told before the king, who sent",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For the young hero to his royal tent:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Before the monarch dauntless he began,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“For this Philistine fail no heart of man:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“I’ll take the vale, and with the giant fight:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“I dread not all his boasts, nor all his might.”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When thus the king: “Dar’st thou a stripling go,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“And venture combat with so great a foe?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Who all his days has been inur’d to fight,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“And made its deeds his study and delight:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Battles and bloodshed brought the monster forth,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“And clouds and whirlwinds usher’d in his birth.”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When David thus: “I kept the fleecy care,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“And out there rush’d a lion and a bear;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“A tender lamb the hungry lion took,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“And with no other weapon than my crook",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Bold I pursu’d, and chas’d him o’er the field,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“The prey deliver’d, and the felon kill’d:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“As thus the lion and the bear I slew,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“So shall Goliath fall, and all his crew:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“The God, who sav’d me from these beasts of prey,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“By me this monster in the dust shall lay.”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So David spoke. The wond’ring king reply’d;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Go thou with heav’n and victory on thy side:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“This coat of mail, this sword gird on,” he said,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And plac’d a mighty helmet on his head:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The coat, the sword, the helm he laid aside,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor chose to venture with those arms untry’d,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Then took his staff, and to the neighb’ring brook",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Instant he ran, and thence five pebbles took.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Mean time descended to Philistia’s son",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A radiant cherub, and he thus begun:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Goliath, well thou know’st thou hast defy’d",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Yon Hebrew armies, and their God deny’d:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Rebellious wretch! audacious worm! forbear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Nor tempt the vengeance of their God too far:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Them, who with his omnipotence contend,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“No eye shall pity, and no arm defend:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Proud as thou art, in short liv’d glory great,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“I come to tell thee thine approaching fate.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Regard my words. The judge of all the gods,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Beneath whose steps the tow’ring mountain nods,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Will give thine armies to the savage brood,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“That cut the liquid air, or range the wood.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Thee too a well-aim’d pebble shall destroy,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“And thou shalt perish by a beardless boy:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Such is the mandate from the realms above,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“And should I try the vengeance to remove,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Myself a rebel to my king would prove.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Goliath say, shall grace to him be shown,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Who dares heav’ns Monarch, and insults his throne?”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Your words are lost on me,” the giant cries,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "While fear and wrath contended in his eyes,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When thus the messenger from heav’n replies:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Provoke no more Jehovah’s awful hand",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“To hurl its vengeance on thy guilty land:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“He grasps the thunder, and, he wings the storm,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Servants their sov’reign’s orders to perform.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The angel spoke, and turn’d his eyes away,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Adding new radiance to the rising day.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Now David comes: the fatal stones demand",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "His left, the staff engag’d his better hand:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The giant mov’d, and from his tow’ring height",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Survey’d the stripling, and disdain’d the fight,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And thus began: “Am I a dog with thee?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Bring’st thou no armour, but a staff to me?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“The gods on thee their vollied curses pour,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“And beasts and birds of prey thy flesh devour.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "David undaunted thus, “Thy spear and shield",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“Shall no protection to thy body yield:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Jehovah’s name⁠—no other arms I bear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“I ask no other in this glorious war.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“To-day the Lord of Hosts to me will give",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Vict’ry, to-day thy doom thou shalt receive;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“The fate you threaten shall your own become,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“And beasts shall be your animated tomb,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“That all the earth’s inhabitants may know",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“That there’s a God, who governs all below:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“This great assembly too shall witness stand,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“That needs nor sword, nor spear, th’ Almighty’s hand:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“The battle his, the conquest he bestows,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“And to our pow’r consigns our hated foes.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Thus David spoke; Goliath heard and came",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To meet the hero in the field of fame.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ah! fatal meeting to thy troops and thee,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But thou wast deaf to the divine decree;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Young David meets thee, meets thee not in vain;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Tis thine to perish on th’ ensanguin’d plain.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And now the youth the forceful pebble flung,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Philistia trembled as it whizz’d along:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In his dread forehead, where the helmet ends,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Just o’er the brows the well-aim’d stone descends,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It pierc’d the skull, and shatter’d all the brain,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Prone on his face he tumbled to the plain:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Goliath’s fall no smaller terror yields",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Than riving thunders in aerial fields:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The soul still ling’red in its lov’d abode,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Till conq’ring David o’er the giant strode:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Goliath’s sword then laid its master dead,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And from the body hew’d the ghastly head;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The blood in gushing torrents drench’d the plains,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The soul found passage through the spouting veins.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And now aloud th’ illustrious victor said,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“Where are your boastings now your champion’s dead?”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Scarce had he spoke, when the Philistines fled:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But fled in vain; the conqu’ror swift pursu’d:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What scenes of slaughter! and what seas of blood!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "There Saul thy thousands grasp’d th’ impurpled sand",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In pangs of death the conquest of thine hand;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And David there were thy ten thousands laid:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thus Israel’s damsels musically play’d.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Near Gath and Edron many an hero lay,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Breath’d out their souls, and curs’d the light of day:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Their fury, quench’d by death, no longer burns,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And David with Goliath’s head returns,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To Salem brought, but in his tent he plac’d",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The load of armour which the giant grac’d.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His monarch saw him coming from the war,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And thus demanded of the son of Ner.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Say, who is this amazing youth?” he cry’d,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When thus the leader of the host reply’d;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“As lives thy soul I know not whence he sprung,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“So great in prowess though in years so young:”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Inquire whose son is he,” the sov’reign said,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Before whose conq’ring arm Philistia fled.”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Before the king behold the stripling stand,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Goliath’s head depending from his hand:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To him the king: “Say of what martial line",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Art thou, young hero, and what sire was thine?”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He humbly thus; “The son of Jesse I:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“I came the glories of the field to try.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Small is my tribe, but valiant in the fight;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Small is my city, but thy royal right.”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Then take the promis’d gifts,” the monarch cry’d,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Conferring riches and the royal bride:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Knit to my soul for ever thou remain",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“With me, nor quit my regal roof again.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}