Jeptha’s Daughter
Jeptha’s Daughter - meaning Summary
Sacrifice and Filial Duty
The speaker, identified as Jeptha’s daughter, accepts a father’s vow that requires her death and frames her impending sacrifice as duty to both family and country. She emphasizes purity, calm resignation, and the hope that her death secures her father’s honor and national freedom. Rather than pleading for life, she asks to be remembered with pride and for her final smile to comfort those she leaves behind.
Read Complete AnalysesSince our Country, our God Oh, my Sire! Demand that thy Daughter expire; Since thy triumph was brought by thy vow– Strike the bosom that’s bared for thee now! And the voice of my mourning is o’er, And the mountains behold me no more: If the hand that I love lay me low, There cannot be pain in the blow! And of this, oh, my Father! be sure– That the blood of thy child is as pure As the blessing I beg ere it flow, And the last thought that soothes me below. Though the virgins of Salem lament, Be the judge and the hero unbent! I have won the great battle for thee, And my Father and Country are free! When this blood of thy giving hath gush’d, When the voice that thou lovest is hush’d, Let my memory still be thy pride, And forget not I smiled as I died!
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